Advertisement

Jean-Claude Juncker says he does not want 'revenge' for Brexit

Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, has said he did not want “revenge” on Britain for the Brexit vote.

The president of the European Commission said that he wanted to see security cooperation continue, but said security cooperation should not be “mixed up” with other Brexit negotiation issues.

He told the Munich Security Conference: “I believe since we are not at war with the UK and since we do not want to take revenge on the UK for what the British people have decided, so this security alliance, this security bridge between the UK and the EU will be maintained, we still need it.”

He said: “However you cannot mix up this question with other questions that are important with the context of Brexit.”

“I do not want to mix up security policy considerations with other considerations.”

Speaking before Mr Junker, Theresa May said "we must now move with urgency" to implement a treaty by the end of 2019, adding "lets be ambitious" about the deal.

The Prime Minister warned the European Union that lives will be put at risk if it lets its "deep-seated ideology" act as a barrier to a new post-Brexit security treaty. 

She said that there will be "damaging real world consequences" if it puts "political doctrine" before co-operation on security. 

In a pledge that may raise eyebrows among Eurosceptics, Mrs May said the UK would "respect" the remit of the European Court of Justice while "participating" in EU agencies after Brexit. 

But she also stressed the need for a new mechanism of dispute resolution between the EU and UK, amid concerns in Britain about the role of EU judges, and insisted that any future partnership on security must respect the UK's sovereignty.

Theresa May arriving at the 2018 Munich Security Conference  - Credit:  Getty
Theresa May arriving at the 2018 Munich Security Conference Credit: Getty

Mrs May told the conference that with threats from terrorism and cyber attacks, nations' ability to keep citizens safe relied on working together.

She told an audience of European politicians and security officials that UK voters had made a "legitimate decision" to bring democratic accountability and decision making closer to home.

But she said it had "always been the case that our security at home is best advanced through global cooperation".

She said the UK was "just as committed to Europe's security in the future as we have been in the past".

The Prime Minister called on European leaders to do "whatever is most practical and pragmatic" to ensure security.

She said everyone in the room had "shared the pain and heartbreak of terrorist atrocities" and nothing must prevent them from protecting citizens.

The EU is threatening to bar Britain from joining the European Arrest Warrant and limit access to a European police database containing information about criminals and terrorists after Brexit.

Its approach is being viewed with increasing concern by member states, who believe that co-operation with Britain's world-class security services is vital.

It came after Alex Younger, the head of MI6, Bruno Kahl of Germany’s BND and Bernard Emie of France’s DGSE issued a joint statement calling for cooperation. The trio were also publicly photographed for the first time. 

The European Commission believes that Britain should lose automatic access to Europol and Passenger Name Records for flights after Brexit.

Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s Brexit coordinator, said he agreed that security co-operation is crucial but warned that Britain will also have to back down over red lines such as EU laws after Brexit.

About the European Arrest Warrant
About the European Arrest Warrant

In a joint press conference with Mrs May in Berlin on Friday, Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, said Germany deplores Brexit but wants relations between Britain and the EU to be "as close as possible".

Mrs Merkel denied she was “frustrated” by the Prime Minister’s approach to the Brexit negotiations, saying that she was "curious" instead.