Really perspicacious analysis by @volkskrant about why the Brexit negotiations aren't going well. I'm going to summarize their main points for the benefit of non-Dutch speakers. Also interesting to see the perspective from an EU member state newspaper volkskrant.nl/nieuws-achterg… 1/
(1) Using EU citizens as bargaining chips. This was bad form and lost a lot of goodwill. Interestingly, author thinks that current Settled Status is reasonable and fair ("schappelijk"). Now the @The3Million are very skeptical, and should be, in the light of windrush etc 2/
This is not a uniquely Dutch perception. See here an article from @destandaard, a Belgian newspaper entitled "May lief voor EU burgers" (May is sweet for EU citizens). standaard.be/cnt/dmf2018062… 3/
But interestingly, @volkskrant says that this offer from the UK is at present unilateral - the rights of @BritishInEurope are still unclear. Given this, the UK government might have made this offer 2 years ago and not wasted goodwill. 4/
(2) Lack of a national debate on Brexit. Given the narrowness of the Leave victory (52%) they should've talked to citizens, business, etc. But instead the UK interpreted the Leave vote as an imperative to stop immigration at all costs. But they didn't properly debate this 5/
(3) Alienating negotiating partners, for instance by appointing Boris Johnson as foreign secretary. Whatever cleverness May thought she was doing, it isn't panning out and he's a disaster for UK public relations. 6/
(4) The article 50 letter was posted too early. Instead of obsessing over which colour ink to sign the letter with, May should've wondered: should I post this letter at all? The UK had not done any preps for a no-deal scenario weakening their negotiating position 7/
A little lesson in how to negotiate from @volkskrant: the UK could've let the Art 50 triggering hang over the EU like a "sword of Damocles", and pressed their ask for pre-art 50 negotiations. Maybe the EU would've caved? We will never know. 8/
(my further thoughts on this: it's quite rich now the UK further weakened its own negotiation position by denying parliament no meaningful say on the deal, so they can so-called walk away. Port of Dover collapsing, food shortages etc. Yes, they can walk but the cost is huge! 9/
They know it, and more detrimental to them, the EU knows it. The EU knows it can play hardball now and you see it in their language - the Barnier statements contain increasingly French and less and less civilities. By not triggering Art 50 so early they could've avoided this) 10/
5/ The snap election: interesting titbit here in @volkskrant article is that the EU thought it was a blessing that the wounded Tories had to go with the DUP. @BorderIrish was a weak point in their negotiation position and could now be mercilessly exploited 11/
6/ Lack of understanding of how the EU negotiates. You have 28 (soon 27) countries that misunderstand each other and so to make things work they need to follow the rules. These rules make any concessions to the UK very difficult, even if they were more favorably disposed 12/
(can I just add a little gripe here: even Remainers don't understand this, that the EU needs strict rules otherwise they can't work together! I present you with the following rather weird tweet by @Andrew_Adonis
Theology? Sure, Adonis is right there isn't a metaphysical necessity here. But if the EU is to work as the integrative peace project was envisaged to be, free movement is really a fundamental part of that. It's not just doctrine, it's a necessity for the project. 14/
(7) Lack of conviction in the Brexit project by May - the @volkskrant author conceives of her as someone who tries to manage fallout (and to avoid her party falling apart!) not a visionary or an optimist. /ends
