EU's preference is ambitious trade deal with UK: EU's Barnier

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The European Union wants to negotiate an ambitious trading partnership with Britain after Brexit, but will only do so once divorce issues are settled and on the basis of fair competition, including on tax, food safety and environment standards.

“If we manage to negotiate an orderly withdrawal, to fully respect the integrity of the single market and establish a level playing field, there is every reason for our future partnership to be ambitious. This is our preferred option,” Michel Barnier told a conference in Brussels on Monday.

“This is why we have started internal preparations with member states to be ready to talk about the future as soon as we have agreed how to settle the past. The EU will be ready to offer its most ambitious FTA (free trade agreement) approach.”

European Union's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier speaks during a joint news conference with Britain's Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union David Davis (not pictured) after the latest round of talks in Brussels, Belgium, November 10, 2017. /Reuters Photo

The financial services sector, which accounts for about 12 percent of Britain’s economic output and pays more tax than any other industry, potentially has a lot to lose from the end of unfettered access to the EU’s post-Brexit market of 440 million people.

Known for centuries as “the City”, London’s financial center has expanded beyond its original heartland in the City of London to the skyscrapers of Canary Wharf in the east and plush townhouses in Mayfair to the west.

The British capital dominates global foreign exchange and features international bond and fund management operations and more banks than any other hub.

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But it is particularly vulnerable to a Brexit shock because about a third of the transactions which take place on its exchanges and in its trading rooms involve clients in the EU.

This has led some politicians and economists to predict London will lose its pre-eminence as a financial center after Brexit, although supporters of leaving the EU say Britain will benefit over the long term by being able to set its own rules.

Almost 17 months after Britons voted to leave the European Union, Reuter's indicators suggest signs of a slowdown, but no transformative decline.

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Source(s): AFP ,Reuters