CHANCELLOR
PHILIP HAMMOND
DEXEU SECRETARY
OF STATE DAVID DAVIS
Wednesday 10
January 2018
Today we’re both in
Germany to highlight the important relationship that exists
between our countries.
It’s a relationship
built on shared interests and shared values, that has helped both
our nations prosper and grow.
And while the UK will
leave the EU next year, we can still look to the future with a
shared vision — one that sees Germany, Britain and the EU
continue to thrive, and our relationship remain strong and
close.
Trade between the UK
and EU 27 is worth €750 billion a year — and a quarter of EU
exports to Britain, worth €113 billion, come from Germany, more
than any other EU country.
Of course we understand
that Germany and other EU countries want to protect the integrity
of the single market, and that without all the obligations of EU
membership third countries cannot have all the benefits.
Those priorities are
not inconsistent with ours — a deep and special partnership with
our closest trading partners and allies.
Our commitment to
Europe’s security is unwavering, and we’ll seek to agree new
arrangements that allow us to keep the close UK-EU cooperation to
tackle the shared threats we face.
Meanwhile, there are
still important choices to be made about how we find the right
balance in Britain's new relationship with the EU.
As two of Europe’s
biggest economies, it makes no sense to either Germany or
Britain to put in place unnecessary barriers to trade in
goods and services that would only damage businesses and economic
growth on both sides of the Channel.
So as Brexit talks now
turn to trade, the UK will look to negotiate a new economic
partnership with the EU – the most ambitious in the world –
that recognises the extraordinary levels of
interconnectedness and cooperation that already exist between
us.
When we leave the
European Union, we will leave the Customs Union and Single
Market, but in agreeing a new model of cooperation, we should not
restrict ourselves to models and deals that already
exist.
Instead we should use
the imagination and ingenuity that our two countries and the EU
have shown in the past, to craft a bespoke solution that
builds on our deeply integrated, unique starting point to
maximise economic cooperation, while minimising additional
friction.
The economic
partnership should cover the length and breadth of our economies
including the service industries — and financial services.
Because the 2008 Global
Financial Crisis proved how fundamental financial services are to
the real economy, and how easily contagion can spread from one
economy to another without global and regional safeguards in
place.
That is why the UK has
worked with our partners in the EU to ensure we led the world in
making the regulation and supervision of finance safer.
In particular, we’ve
sought to ensure that financial authorities across the world can
cooperate in rule-setting and supervising systemically important
global firms, to make sure such a catastrophe doesn't happen
again.
That work shouldn’t end
because the UK is leaving the EU. On the contrary, we must
re-double our collective effort to ensure that we do not put that
hard-earned financial stability at risk, by getting a deal that
supports collaboration within the European banking sector, rather
than forcing it to fragment.
For such a close trade
partnership in goods and services to succeed, we will need to
maintain our common principles – including our shared belief in
high standards – and continue the intelligent cooperation of our
regulators.
Because the trust we
place in each others regulators, in a whole range of areas, has
been built up over many years of cooperation and there's no good
reason why it should disappear after the UK leaves the EU.
We also propose to
provide as much certainty to businesses throughout the EU as
possible, through a time-limited implementation period after
Britain leaves the EU.
During this period, we
propose that access to one another’s markets will continue in its
current form, using the EU’s existing rules, regulations and
agencies.
That way, UK and
European businesses have time to prepare for a single set of
changes – once we know what our future trading partnership will
look like.
This implementation
period is clearly in the mutual interests of the UK, Germany, and
the EU – that is why the December EU Council signalled its
support for rapid progress on this agreement, which we should
deliver at the March council.
So this week, we both
take the message to German business leaders that agreeing the
details of this period with the Commission is a major priority
for the UK Government.
Brexit will inevitably
mean a shift in the way UK and European companies do business
together.
But with the next set
of negotiations just around the corner, a bold, positive and
exciting new chapter in our history together awaits.
We will continue to
work closely together, to make sure we put in place a new
relationship that works for the UK, for Germany and for
Europe.
