Brexit weekly briefing: May seeks new security treaty

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In the absence of policy announcements (and still fewer decisions), we may as well have speeches. In the first of a series of planned interventions, there were two big ones last week, from Theresa May and Boris Johnson, plus a revealing interview from the European parliament’s Brexit coordinator.

Security strains The prime minister told the Munich security conference the UK would leave the EU’s common foreign and security policy as early as next year but wanted to agree a new security treaty during the transition period because “we shouldn’t wait where we don’t need to”. She also warned of “damaging real-world consequences” if the EU let “rigid institutional restrictions” or “ideology” obstruct a wide-ranging post-Brexit security partnership – but was vague on how the UK would “respect the role of the European court of justice” while also having its “sovereign legal order”. It’s a tricky one: many EU states recognise the UK has resources and expertise the bloc needs, but others believe leaving the single market and jurisdiction of the ECJ should disqualify Britain from being a part of joint institutions such as Europol, EU police databases or EU military missions.

Source: theguardian