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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021
In June 2016, the people of the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. As the EU's chief negotiator, for four years Michel Barnier had a seat at the table as the two sides thrashed out what 'Brexit' would really mean. The result would change Britain and Europe forever. During the 1600 days of complex and often acrimonious negotiations, Michel Barnier kept a secret diary. He recorded his private hopes and fears, and gave a blow-by-blow account as the negotiations oscillated between consensus and disagreement, transparency and lies. From Brussels to London, from Dublin to Nicosia, Michel Barnier's secret diary lifts the lid on what really happened behind the scenes of one of the most high-stakes negotiations in modern history. The result is a unique testimony from the ultimate insider on the hidden world of Brexit and those who made it happen.
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Table of Contents
Cover
Praise for
My Secret Brexit Diary
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Epigraph
Quote
List of Illustrations
The Main Players
For the UK
For the EU
A Warning
Notes
Origins of the Referendum
Notes
Diary
2016
Friday, 24 June 2016: A rude awakening
Sunday, 26 June 2016: Three British divides
Thursday, 7 July 2016: On the plane with Jean-Claude Juncker
Wednesday, 13 July 2016: Enter Theresa May
Wednesday, 27 July 2016: Provocation?
Monday, 8 August 2016: First names
Wednesday, 31 August 2016: Trio
Sunday, 2 October 2016: Birmingham – Theresa May in the spotlight
Monday, 3 October 2016: Getting started
Tuesday, 4 October 2016: The Hague
Wednesday, 5 October 2016: Bucharest
Thursday, 6 October 2016: ‘Our enemy is the Commission’
Friday, 7 October 2016: Notre Europe
Saturday, 8 October 2016: Theresa May among her own
Monday, 10 October 2016: Warsaw
Monday, 17 October 2016: The financial settlement
Wednesday, 19 October 2016: Ljubljana
Wednesday, 26 October 2016: Zagreb
Friday, 11 November 2016: Focus on strategy
Monday, 21 November 2016: Raising a glass of Prosecco to Boris
Wednesday, 30 November 2016: Facing the press
Thursday, 22 December 2016: Grounded planes?
Notes
2017
Tuesday, 17 January 2017: Lancaster House – Theresa May shows her hand
Thursday, 19 January 2017: Paris, National Assembly
Tuesday, 24 January 2017: UK Parliament
Thursday, 2 February 2017: White Paper
Wednesday, 22 March 2017: European Committee of the Regions
Wednesday, 29 March 2017: Notification
Friday, 31 March 2017: Sadness and regret
Tuesday, 4 April 2017: European Parliament resolution
Wednesday, 5 April 2017: Farage in his element…
Tuesday, 11 April 2017: Sherpas
Wednesday, 12 April 2017: Tensions over Gibraltar
Tuesday, 18 April 2017: Chef’s surprise...
Wednesday, 26 April 2017: Dinner in London
Saturday, 29 April 2017: Green light from the twenty-seven on the negotiation framework
Sunday, 30 April 2017: Leaks
Wednesday, 3 May 2017: Guidelines approved
Friday, 5 May 2017: Florence, Palazzo Vecchio
Sunday, 7 May 2017: A new President of the Republic
Thursday, 11 May 2017: Dublin to Dundalk
Monday, 22 May 2017: Official mandate
Wednesday, 24 May 2017: Battle of the flags
Monday, 29 May 2017: Malta
Tuesday, 30 May 2017: 759 agreements…
Sunday, 11 June 2017: A wager lost…
Monday, 12 June 2017: Talks on the talks
Sunday, 18 June 2017: A breath of fresh air
Monday, 19 June 2017: The first session – at last!
Thursday, 22 June 2017: After-dinner conversation
Friday, 23 June 2017: Europe is back
Tuesday, 27 June 2017: David Davis calling
Saturday, 1 July 2017: Tribute to Helmut Kohl
Monday, 3 July 2017: Fishing in troubled waters
Wednesday, 5 July 2017: Tribute to Simone Veil
Thursday, 6 July 2017: Zeebrugge
Wednesday, 12 July 2017: No whistling, just the clock ticking
Thursday, 13 July 2017: Open day for the British
Monday, 17 July 2017: Round two
Tuesday, 18 July 2017: Money, money, money…
Thursday, 20 July 2017: At the Élysée Palace
Thursday, 10 August 2017: Cypriot imbroglio
Monday, 28 August 2017: No way!
Tuesday, 29 August 2017: Transition period? What transition period?
Wednesday, 30 August 2017: ‘Cornering Barnier’
Thursday, 31 August 2017: ‘Your legal analysis is broadly without merit’
Saturday, 2 September 2017: No lessons to be learned
Thursday, 7 September 2017: A return to myth
Sunday, 17 September 2017: Boris Johnson puts pen to paper
Monday, 18 September 2017: English breakfast
Tuesday, 19 September 2017: The British offensive
Thursday, 21 September 2017: ‘Where there’s a will… ’
Friday, 22 September 2017: In Florence, Theresa May drives the point home
Monday, 25 September 2017: Round four
Tuesday, 3 October 2017: A resolute Parliament
Wednesday, 4 October 2017: Agincourt
Thursday, 5 October 2017: Stockholm
Friday, 6 October 2017: Hard line from the ambassadors
Thursday, 12 October 2017: Brussels – dinner with Theresa May
Friday, 20 October 2017: European Council
Thursday, 9 November 2017: Rome
Monday, 13 November 2017: Warsaw
Friday, 24 November 2017: What remains to be done (in the first phase)
Monday, 27 November 2017: Tallinn
Tuesday, 28 November 2017: Angela Merkel
Sunday, 3 December 2017: Finally, some progress…
Monday, 4 December 2017: The Irish trap
Tuesday, 5 December 2017: London in ferment
Wednesday, 6 December 2017: Olly Robbins in Brussels
Thursday, 7 December 2017: An evening on the phone
Friday, 8 December 2017: Brussels at dawn
Monday, 11 December 2017: Non-binding?
Tuesday, 12 December 2017: Meghan and Harry
Friday, 15 December 2017: European Council and gastronomic competition
Notes
2018
Monday, 8 January 2018: ‘After Brexit, the EU will no longer exist’
Wednesday, 10 January 2018: Gift basket
Monday, 15 January 2018: Remainers
Thursday, 18 January 2018: Concerns in Luxembourg
Monday, 29 January 2018: Transition under duress
Wednesday, 31 January 2018: Some rather belated studies…
Friday, 2 February 2018: Global Britain?
Monday, 5 February 2018: Back to Number 10
Wednesday, 7 February 2018: In Frankfurt with Mario Draghi
Friday, 9 February 2018: An overheated press room
Wednesday, 14 February 2018: Boris Johnson’s organic carrots
Saturday, 17 February 2018: Security and defence in Munich
Wednesday, 21 February 2018: UK delegations
Wednesday, 28 February 2018: Draft treaty
Friday 2 March 2018: Cherry-picking
Saturday, 3 March 2018: With Danish fishermen
Monday, 5 March 2018: First Irish day
Tuesday, 6 March 2018: With the ‘iron ladies’ of the DUP
Monday, 12 March 2018: The outermost regions
Tuesday, 13 March 2018: Plenary session
Thursday, 15 March 2018: Before the twenty-seven ambassadors
Monday, 19 March 2018 – David Davis is back
Wednesday, 21 March 2018: St Patrick’s Day
Thursday, 22 March 2018: Mario Draghi
Friday, 23 March 2018: European Council
Thursday, 5 April 2018: Helsinki
Tuesday, 10 April 2018:
Spitzenkandidat
Thursday, 12 April 2018: Prague
Tuesday, 24 April 2018: A new team in Berlin
Thursday, 26 April 2018: Sofia
Sunday, 29 April 2018: The General’s Ireland
Monday, 30 April 2018: A fragile peace on the island of Ireland
Tuesday, 1 May 2018: A difficult job
Monday, 14 May 2018: ‘Little, not “very little”’
Thursday, 17 May 2018: Churchill meets Adenauer…
Saturday, 19 May 2018: Royal wedding
Tuesday, 22 May 2018: Poorer by £900
Saturday, 26 May 2018: Lisbon
Monday, 4 June 2018: Budapest
Thursday, 7 June 2018: David Davis threatens to resign
Friday, 8 June 2018: Backstop means backstop!
Monday, 11 June 2018: Croissants for David Davis
Thursday, 14 June 2018: Isolating Ireland
Monday, 18 June 2018: A beer on the Danube
Tuesday, 19 June 2018: Brexit and homeland security
Saturday, 23 June 2018: With future customs officers at Schiphol
Friday, 29 June 2018: European Council
Thursday, 5 July 2018: Vilnius
Friday, 6 July 2018: The battle of Chequers
Saturday, 7 July 2018: David Davis calling
Sunday, 8 July 2018: David Davis resigns
Monday, 9 July 2018: New York
Tuesday, 10 July 2018: France and Belgium
Wednesday, 11 July 2018: Donald Trump’s ministers
Thursday, 12 July 2018: With Christine Lagarde in Washington
Friday, 13 July 2018: Une grand dame
Sunday, 15 July 2018: White Paper
Wednesday, 18 July 2018: Tony Blair
Thursday, 19 July 2018: Dominic Raab
Tuesday, 24 July 2018: Theresa May takes over
Wednesday, 25 July 2018: Misunderstanding
Friday, 27 July 2018: Athens, scarred by fire
Friday, 10 August 2018: Theresa May at Brégançon
Wednesday, 15 August 2018: The memoirs of Alain Prate
Thursday, 16 August 2018: Jim Ratcliffe
Tuesday, 21 August 2018: Dominic Raab on the attack
Sunday, 26 August 2018: The General and England
Friday, 31 August 2018: Misunderstandings
Monday, 3 September 2018: Thai shrimp and Chinese bikes…
Thursday, 6 September 2018: Governance and Ireland
Tuesday, 11 September 2018: A slice of
potica
Wednesday, 12 September 2018: Three tweets
Monday, 17 September 2018: Madrid
Thursday, 20 September 2018: A high-tension Salzburg
Friday, 21 September 2018: Dirty rats
Saturday, 22 September 2018: A piece of cake?
Wednesday, 26 September 2018: Port infrastructure
Thursday, 27 September 2018: Jeremy Corbyn
Friday, 28 September 2018: Negotiation is the priority
Wednesday, 3 October 2018: Dance moves in Birmingham
Thursday, 4 October 2018: Visit from the Taoiseach
Friday, 5 October 2018: Cyprus
Tuesday, 9 October 2018: Northern Irish consultations
Thursday, 11 October 2018: A no-deal atmosphere
Sunday, 14 October 2018: Dominic Raab blocks the process
Monday, 15 October 2018: Derry Girls Against Borders
Wednesday, 17 October 2018: An exercise in futility
Monday, 22 October 2018: Parallel negotiations?
Monday, 5 November 2018: A major conference in Brussels
Tuesday, 6 November 2018: Bratislava
Friday, 9 November 2018: All hands on deck to fine-tune the backstop
Sunday, 11 November 2018: Ypres
Tuesday, 13 November 2018: Eve of battle
Wednesday, 14 November 2018: Deal!
Thursday, 15 November 2018: Flash visit to Strasbourg
Wednesday, 21 November 2018: Theresa May
Sunday, 25 November 2018: European Council
Tuesday, 27 November 2018: The fifth baby of the task force
Monday, 10 December 2018: London vote postponed
Wednesday, 12 December 2018: Motion against Theresa May
Thursday, 13 December 2018: European Council
Friday, 14 December 2018: Oriana
Notes
2019
Monday, 7 January 2019: New year, new vote?
Tuesday, 8 January 2019: Martin Selmayr
Wednesday, 9 January 2019: British beef in Japan
Thursday, 10 January 2019: Theresa May calling
Tuesday, 15 January 2019: A meaningful vote at last?
Wednesday, 16 January 2019: Three possible outcomes
Thursday, 17 January 2019: Henry the Navigator
Wednesday, 23 January 2019: Preparing for no deal
Thursday, 24 January 2019: Angela Merkel
Friday, 25 January 2019: Royal wisdom
Wednesday, 30 January 2019: Back to square one?
Wednesday, 6 February 2019: ‘A place in hell’
Thursday, 7 February 2019: Theresa May returns
Monday, 11 February 2019: Enter Steve Barclay
Tuesday, 12 February 2019: Walls have ears
Thursday, 21 February 2019: Concessions at last?
Saturday, 2 March 2019: Nick Timothy
Wednesday, 6 March 2019: A royal visit for the task force
Friday, 8 March 2019: Theresa May appeals to the people
Monday, 11 March 2019: An evening in Strasbourg
Tuesday, 12 March 2019: Meaningful vote #2
Wednesday, 13 March 2019: No to no deal
Thursday, 14 March 2019: A positive vote!
Monday, 18 March 2019: Revenge for Crécy!
Tuesday, 19 March 2019: J-10?
Wednesday, 20 March 2019: What extension?
Thursday, 21 March 2019: A thousand days’ work
Friday, 29 March 2019: In Natolin, Poland
Tuesday, 2 April 2019: Another extension request
Friday, 5 April 2019: European elections?
Wednesday, 10 April 2019: Halloween Brexit
Friday, 19 April 2019: Brexit break?
Sunday, 21 April 2019: Churchill’s political diary
Thursday, 9 May 2019: ‘This precious stone set in the silver sea…’
Sunday, 12 May 2019: Documentaries
Monday, 13 May 2019: Berlin
Thursday, 16 May 2019: Theresa May throws in the towel
Monday, 20 May 2019: Turkish provocations in Cyprus
Friday, 24 May 2019: Theresa May’s regrets
Sunday, 26 May 2019: European elections
Wednesday, 5 June 2019: Donald Trump in London
Friday, 7 June 2019: Russian border
Monday, 17 June 2019: Finalists in the campaign
Wednesday, 26 June 2019: Sabine Weyand in the spotlight
Monday, 8 July 2019: Labour wants a second referendum
Thursday, 11 July 2019: James Dyson votes for Singapore
Friday, 12 July 2019:The Queen to the rescue of Parliament?
Monday, 15 July 2019: A letter to Theresa May
Tuesday, 16 July 2019: Ursula von der Leyen elected
Wednesday, 17 July 2019: Final speech
Thursday, 18 July 2019: Riga
Friday, 19 July 2019: Smoke and mirrors
Tuesday, 23 July 2019: Transfer of power
Thursday, 25 July 2019: Boris Johnson at Number 10…
Thursday, 8 August 2019: Chris Patten
Tuesday, 20 August 2019: A letter from Boris Johnson
Tuesday, 27 August 2019: Phone call
Thursday, 29 August 2019: Suspension of UK Parliament
Sunday, 1 September 2019: Michael Gove
Wednesday, 4 September 2019: The Benn Act
Thursday, 5 September 2019: Jo Johnson
Sunday, 8 September 2019: Olly Robbins
Monday, 9 September 2019: Boris Johnson in Dublin
Tuesday, 10 September 2019: The curse of Brexit
Thursday, 12 September 2019: New Parliament, new Commission
Friday, 13 September 2019: Team meeting
Sunday, 15 September 2019: The Hulk
Monday, 16 September 2019: Lunch in Luxembourg
Wednesday, 18 September 2019: Plenary in Strasbourg
Friday, 20 September 2019: Steve Barclay
Tuesday, 24 September 2019: Supreme Court
Thursday, 26 September 2019: Jacques Chirac
Thursday, 3 October 2019: UK proposal
Tuesday, 8 October 2019: Dominic Cummings
Friday, 11 October 2019: A few steps forward
Sunday, 13 October 2019: Negotiations
Tuesday, 15 October 2019: Vigil at the Berlaymont
Wednesday, 16 October 2019: A breakthrough on Ireland
Thursday, 17 October 2019: Deal!
Friday, 18 October 2019: Nigel Farage
Saturday, 19 October 2019: Eyes on Westminster
Tuesday, 22 October 2019: Another try
Wednesday, 23 October 2019: Extension?
Thursday, 24 October 2019: Thierry Breton
Friday, 25 October 2019: 31 January!
Monday, 28 October 2019: Letter from the Prime Minister
Wednesday, 6 November 2019: John Bercow
Saturday, 7 December 2019: British civil servants
Sunday, 8 December 2019: Baby boom
Wednesday, 11 December 2019: Election eve
Friday, 13 December 2019: European Council
Friday, 20 December 2019: Inquest on Article 50
Monday, 23 December 2019: Citizens’ rights
Notes
2020
Wednesday, 1 January 2020: Happy New Year!
Monday, 6 January 2020: Full house!
Wednesday, 8 January 2020: Return to 10 Downing Street
Thursday, 9 January 2020: Stockholm
Friday, 10 January 2020: Who to disappoint?
Monday, 27 January 2020: Dublin to Belfast
Wednesday, 29 January 2020: A temporary farewell
Friday, 31 January 2020: An emotional day
A Second Negotiation
2020
Monday, 3 February 2020: New negotiations, new mandate
Monday, 10 February 2020: A winning method
Monday, 17 February 2020: A philosophical gap
Wednesday, 19 February 2020: Slide wars
Wednesday, 26 February 2020: The UK is not Canada
Monday, 2 March 2020: Curtain up
Wednesday, 4 March 2020: More questions than answers
Thursday, 5 March 2020: ‘Like Jesuits’
Sunday, 8 March 2020: Light of day
Friday, 20 March 2020: Patient zero?
Monday, 30 March 2020: Second major project for 2020
Monday, 20 April 2020: Virtual rounds
Monday, 27 April 2020: A time for reflection
Tuesday, 5 May 2020: Fair play is not for sale!
Friday, 15 May 2020: Disappointing exchanges
Friday, 29 May 2020: Theodore!
Friday, 5 June 2020: Bis repetita
Friday, 12 June 2020: One-way borders?
Monday, 15 June 2020: High-level meeting
Monday, 29 June 2020: ‘A missive from a free country’
Tuesday, 30 June 2020: Reunions
Tuesday, 7 July 2020: London calling
Friday, 17 July 2020: Political sovereignty
Thursday, 23 July 2020: Watching live at the pub
Saturday, 1 August 2020: London wants to reflect
Thursday, 6 August 2020: Inevitable changes
Friday, 21 August 2020: Illusions dispelled
Wednesday, 2 September 2020: Meeting at Chequers
Monday, 7 September 2020: A warning shot
Tuesday, 8 September 2020: Political filibustering
Wednesday, 9 September 2020: Holding the line
Thursday, 10 September 2020: ‘Throwing a dead cat on the table’
Sunday, 13 September 2020 : ‘Food blockade’ in the Irish Sea
Monday, 14 September 2020: Revolver
Wednesday, 16 September 2020: Washington
Wednesday, 16 September 2020: In the words of Margaret Thatcher
Thursday, 17 September 2020: Picking up the pieces
Friday, 18 September 2020: Tentative progress
Tuesday, 22 September 2020: Mega traffic jam
Wednesday, 23 September 2020: ‘Landing zones’
Friday, 25 September 2020: No diving with open hatches!
Friday, 2 October 2020: Light at the end of the tunnel?
Saturday, 3 October 2020: The ‘revenge’ of Scottish fishermen
Sunday, 4 October 2020: Countering Boris
Monday, 5 October 2020: The Chancellor and Brexit
Tuesday, 13 October 2020: No ‘tiger in the tank’
Thursday, 15 October 2020: Rendezvous with the ‘top leaders’
Friday, 16 October 2020: British political cinema
Saturday, 17 October 2020: Quo vadis?
Monday and Tuesday, 19 and 20 October 2020: Two days, two calls
Wednesday, 21 October 2020: Let’s hear it...
Thursday, 22 October 2020: The final stretch?
Monday, 26 October 2020: Creativity required
Tuesday, 27 October 2020: Herring and blue whiting
Friday, 30 October 2020: A misunderstanding
Tuesday, 3 November 2020: Governance
Sunday, 8 November 2020: And the winner is…
Monday, 9 November 2020: Mr Churchill’s competition
Wednesday, 11 November 2020: New ideas
Saturday, 14 November 2020: A risky bet
Friday, 20 November 2020: Quarantine
Wednesday, 25 November 2020: Confined at home
Saturday, 28 November 2020: European students in the UK
Monday, 30 November 2020: End of the road
Wednesday, 2 December 2020: Hot and cold
Saturday, 5 December 2020: A final blockade?
Monday, 7 December 2020: A war of nerves
Wednesday, 9 December 2020: The return of Boris Johnson
Thursday, 10 December 2020: Gauging the real effects of a no deal
Sunday, 13 December 2020: A ‘political agreement’…
Wednesday, 16 December 2020: ‘A matter of a few mackerel’
Saturday, 19 December 2020: A proposal on fisheries
Sunday, 20 December 2020: Chaos in the UK
Monday, 21 December 2020: Rumours of an agreement
Tuesday, 22 December 2020: Final discussions on the thirteenth floor
Wednesday, 23 December 2020: Final act
Thursday, 24 December 2020: ‘A day of relief, tinged with sadness’
Notes
2021
Sunday, 21 February 2021: Paris
Notes
Acknowledgements
Glossary
Chronology
Abbreviations
Index
Plates
End User License Agreement
Guide
Cover
Table of Contents
Begin Reading
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MY SECRET BREXIT DIARY
A Glorious Illusion
Michel Barnier
Translated by Robin Mackay
polity
Copyright Page
Originally published in French as La Grande Illusion. Journal secret du Brexit (2016–2020) © Éditions GALLIMARD, Paris, 2021
This English edition © Polity Press, 2021
Illustration 12 source: Ingram Pinn, 2018, ‘Taking Back Control’, Financial Times / FT.com. 27 July 2018. Used under licence from the Financial Times. All Rights Reserved.
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All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.
ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-5086-9 (hardback)
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2021943873
by Fakenham Prepress Solutions, Fakenham, Norfolk NR21 8NL
The publisher has used its best endeavours to ensure that the URLs for external websites referred to in this book are correct and active at the time of going to press. However, the publisher has no responsibility for the websites and can make no guarantee that a site will remain live or that the content is or will remain appropriate.
Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been overlooked the publisher will be pleased to include any necessary credits in any subsequent reprint or edition.
For further information on Polity, visit our website: politybooks.com
Dedication
To Oriana and Theodore, both born during this long negotiation, who kindly shared their grandfather with the British
Epigraph
Beat at this gate that let thy folly in,
And thy dear judgement out!
Shakespeare, King Lear
Quote
La Grande Illusion is a wonderful film by Jean Renoir, released in 1937. It is also the title of an essay by Norman Angell (The Great Illusion: A Study of the Relation of Military Power in Nations to their Economic and Social Advantage), published in 1910, in which the English author argued that, given the economic and financial bonds uniting the European nations with one another, war had become an impossibility. Although this prediction turned out to be wrong, in his book Angell clearly shows that war is a process of mutual depletion in which there is no winner.
Illustrations
1. The first lie of the Brexit campaign: in May 2016, Boris Johnson alleges that the £350 million per week relinquished by Brussels would be used to fund the NHS instead. © Darren Staples/Reuters
2. A hateful conflation from Nigel Farage in June 2016, which intentionally misattributes the cause of the flow of Middle Eastern refugees to freedom of movement within the EU. © Daniel Leal-Olivas/Stringer/Getty Images
3. Thyborøn, Denmark, 21 April 2017, a trip out to sea in minus 22 degrees Celsius, to listen to fishermen who work in British waters. © Henning Bagger/Denmark OUT/AFP/Getty Images
4. 12 May 2017, on the yellow line that divides Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, or the ‘invisible border’ between the EU and the UK. © Michel Barnier
5. With Brian Burgess, an Irish farmer, and his ‘European cows’, several metres from the Northern Irish border. © Michel Barnier
6. Patrick Blower, Telegraph, 19 June 2017. © Garland/Telegraph Media Group Limited 2021
7. My two deputies, Sabine Weyand and Stéphanie Riso, and I received David Davis, Tim Barrow and Olly Robbins on 17 July 2017 – they had left their papers behind! © Thierry Charlier/Reuters
8. At Berlaymont, seat of the European Commission, a convivial moment on my birthday with my whole team, 9 January 2018. © Michel Barnier
9. In May 2018, at the Derry/Londonderry Guildhall. A spontaneous discussion with Northern Irish school pupils. © Michel Barnier
10. For four years, we visited a new capital city each week in order to meet their nation’s government, the national parliament, trade unions or businesses. Here we are in Lisbon with Prime Minister Antonio Costa, 26 May 2018. © Michel Barnier
11. A frank and direct discussion with the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in his office in Parliament in Budapest, 4 June 2018. When it comes to Brexit, he always supported the EU. © Government of Hungary. Photographer: Balázs Szecsődi.
12. Ingram Pinn, Financial Times, 27 July 2018. © Financial Times
13. Christian Adams, Evening Standard, 4 March 2019. © Christian Adams/Evening Standard
14. Jean-Claude Juncker and I meet Theresa May in Strasbourg. Demanding negotiations don’t preclude courteous manners! © Alex Kraus/Bloomberg/Getty Images
15. Meeting of the Brexit Steering Group at the European Parliament, chaired by the Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt. European unity is founded on transparency and trust. © EU/Étienne Ansotte, 2019
16. Teatime! The role of Leo Varadkar, the Irish Taoiseach, was decisive throughout the negotiations. Photo taken 8 April 2019 in Dublin. © Charles McQuillan/Stringer/Getty Images
17. No one, not even Nigel Farage, ever convinced me of the added value of Brexit. Here we are in Strasbourg at the European Parliament, where we had many tussles during the plenary session. © EU/Étienne Ansotte, 2019
18. Andy Davey, Evening Standard, 16 September 2019. © Andy Davey/Evening Standard
19. 17 October 2019, in the early hours. After three years of effort, we had reached an agreement with Boris Johnson and his negotiator Stephen Barclay on the UK’s exit from the EU. © EU/Jacqueline Jacquemart, 2019
20. During this long journey, I felt the need to return to Savoie, my ‘homeland’ and the place where my roots lie. © Michel Barnier
21. 28 January 2020, with my two new deputies, Clara Martínez Alberola and Paulina Dejmek Hack. The task force takes up anew the reins of negotiation over our future relationship. © Michel Barnier
22. At the Élysée with Emmanuel Macron on 31 January 2020, the day of the UK’s exit from the EU. © Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty Images
23. Patrick Blower, Telegraph, 3 March 2020. © Garland/Telegraph Media Group Limited 2021
24. In Brussels on 29 June 2020. One of the official negotiation sessions between the British and the Europeans. © John Thys/AP/SIPA/Getty Images
25. Peter Brookes, The Times, 18 September 2020. © The Times/News Licensing
26. In Berlin on 12 October 2020, with Chancellor Angela Merkel. We were both environment ministers for our respective countries in 1994. In her words: ‘Europe’s future is more important than Brexit.’ © Bundesregierung/Steffen Kugler
27. In London, 27 October 2020. En route between our hotel and the conference centre where the negotiations were taking place; remaining anonymous was not easy. © Michel Barnier
28. In the basement of the conference centre in London, in the room we were assigned by the British. Our teams worked here, night and day, for weeks. © Michel Barnier
29. 10 December 2020, fifteen days away from a deal which at that point still seemed unlikely. PM Boris Johnson and David Frost were in Brussels for a business dinner with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. © EU/Etienne Ansotte, 2020
30. In the late hours of 23 December 2020, my adviser Matthieu Hébert and I prepare the speech for my last press conference. © Michel Barnier
31. Elena Mongiorgi, Lacrima Europa, January 2020. © Elena Mongiorgi
The Main Players
For the UK
David Cameron – Prime Minister from May 2010 to July 2016. In January 2013 he committed himself to holding a referendum on his country’s membership of the EU.
Theresa May – Prime Minister from July 2016 to July 2019. It was under her leadership that the majority of the UK’s negotiations on the country’s withdrawal from the EU and the framework for a future relationship were conducted. However, the Withdrawal Agreement reached with her on 14 November 2018 was never ratified by the House of Commons.
Boris Johnson – Leading figure in the Brexit campaign and Prime Minister of the UK since July 2019. It was under his leadership that the final version of the Withdrawal Agreement and the Trade and Cooperation Agreement on the future relationship between the EU and the UK were agreed upon.
David Davis – Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union from July 2016 to July 2018. The first of four successive negotiators on the UK side. Resigned on 8 July 2018.
Dominic Raab – Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union from July to November 2018. The second UK Brexit negotiator. Resigned on 15 November 2018.
Steve Barclay – Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union from November 2018 to January 2020. The third UK Brexit negotiator. His post was abolished on 31 January 2020 when the UK left the EU.
Olly Robbins – Europe Adviser to Prime Minister Theresa May. The UK’s permanent negotiator and the EU team’s principal interlocutor throughout the negotiations on the UK’s withdrawal until Boris Johnson took over in July 2019.
David Frost – Europe Adviser to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, succeeding Olly Robbins in the role. On 31 January 2020, the day the UK left the EU, he was appointed head of the newly formed Task Force Europe, leading the UK’s negotiating team during discussions on the future relationship.
Michael Gove – Leading figure in the Brexit campaign and minister of state in Boris Johnson’s government, responsible for the implementation of the Withdrawal Agreement and the Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Dominic Cummings – Leave campaigner and supporter of hard Brexit. Chief adviser to Boris Johnson when he took office as Prime Minister. Left Downing Street abruptly on 13 November 2020.
Tim Barrow – The UK’s Permanent Representative to the EU, part of the British negotiating team for four years.
For the EU
Jean-Claude Juncker – President of the European Commission from November 2014 to November 2019. It was under the authority of this Luxembourgish politician that the Withdrawal Agreement and the Political Declaration setting out the framework for the future relationship between the UK and the EU were negotiated.
Ursula von der Leyen – President of the European Commission since December 2019, of German nationality. It was under her authority that the Trade and Cooperation Agreement with the UK was negotiated.
Donald Tusk – President of the European Council from December 2014 to November 2019, a Polish national. Led many of the discussions on Brexit between the EU’s other twenty-seven heads of state or government.
Charles Michel – President of the European Council since December 2019, a Belgian national. Presided over discussions between the twenty-seven heads of state or government on the future relationship between the UK and the EU.
Martin Schulz, Antonio Tajani, and David Sassoli – Successive presidents of the European Parliament from 2014 to 2021.
Guy Verhofstadt – Belgian MEP. Followed the negotiations closely on behalf of the European Parliament as chairman of the Brexit Steering Group.
Martin Selmayr – Senior European civil servant, of German nationality. Followed the negotiations with the UK very closely as Head of Cabinet to Jean-Claude Juncker and subsequently as Secretary-General of the European Commission until August 2019.
David McAllister – MEP, of German nationality. Chaired the European Parliament’s UK Coordination Group during the second round of negotiations.
Sabine Weyand – Senior European civil servant, of German nationality. Deputy Chief Negotiator for Brexit until May 2019, when she became Director-General for Trade at the European Commission.
Stéphanie Riso – Senior European civil servant, of French nationality. Director of the task force in charge of negotiations until September 2019, when she became Deputy Head of Cabinet to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Clara Martínez Alberola – Senior European civil servant, of Spanish nationality. Became EU Deputy Chief Negotiator for Brexit in January 2020. Previously Head of Cabinet to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
Paulina Dejmek Hack – Senior EU official, of dual Swedish and Czech nationality. Became director of the negotiating task force in 2019. Previously an adviser in the cabinet of European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
Maroš Šefčovič – Slovak Vice-President of the European Commission. Responsible for the implementation of the Withdrawal Agreement and the Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland.
A Warning
‘I don’t like this Michel Barnier.’ So, that’s settled then!
In a lengthy profile published by Le Monde in 2018, the great British photojournalist Sir Donald McCullin explains why he voted for Brexit.* The child of a poor family, born in London’s Finsbury Park, in March 2017 McCullin was awarded a knighthood. ‘We didn’t join Europe to be strangulated, to have our sovereignty destroyed… We joined the EU for economic reasons, and for defence and security, not to be told by Brussels what I’m allowed to put in my bin.’
This fear of having pedantic regulations imposed by Brussels, regarding environmental standards for example, is nothing new. Already in 1987, Gordon Cartwright, a character from the novel The Commissioner, gin and tonic in hand, proclaimed: ‘[W]e have to clip the wings of those bureaucrats in Brussels. Clip their wings, keep them under control, don’t you agree? Fair trade and competition is one thing, but bloody-minded interference is something else altogether.’
The author of this novel, published by Arrow, is a certain … Stanley Johnson, who worked at the European Commission during the 1980s, and expressed in his book the exasperation created at the time by regulatory zeal and the desire of certain Brussels technocrats to take everything in hand and fix it all perfectly.
I took the time to read Johnson’s book as part of my ‘research’ into the reasons that drove his son Boris, along with 17,410,742 other British citizens, to vote to leave the European Union.
So can we explain the vote as a rejection of a Europe that meddles in waste sorting and imposes too many environmental constraints ‘from above’?
Quite apart from the fact that the Europe of today is far more pragmatic and efficient than that of the 1980s, there are obviously other reasons, some of which are specific to the United Kingdom.
First of all, the feeling, to quote Sir Donald again, that ‘continental Europe is another world, of which England is not a part’. Europe is too different from the UK. This island country, facing out toward the ‘open sea’, draws from its glorious past the idea that it is better to stand alone.
And then there are other reasons related to the British political system, which is strongly bipartisan, preventing the concerns of many political groups and citizens from being properly represented in the capital. It is quite natural, then, that they should see a referendum or a European Election as an opportunity to express themselves.
Finally, the UK is home to a tabloid empire that makes it its daily business to denigrate the EU with simplistic arguments and false stories. The 2016 referendum campaign was fuelled by these caricatures and untruths. For example, as soon as the result was declared, the Leave campaign acknowledged that leaving the EU would not in fact enable £350 million a week to flow back into the NHS, the UK’s health system, as promised on their famous red bus. Similarly, the image of UKIP leader Nigel Farage posing in front of a billboard depicting crowds of migrants from Syria and elsewhere on the march deserves to be remembered as the apex of cynicism and a clouding of the issues, calling to mind the outrageous propaganda caricatures of another era.
But let’s face it, such shortcomings in the public debate on Europe are not the preserve of the British alone. There are also far too many EU politicians who keep a low profile, are ashamed of Europe, make no attempt to explain anything, and fail to take responsibility. I have long been convinced that it is the silence, the arrogance and the remoteness of European elites that fuels fear and encourages demagogy.
And then there is a final, even more serious reason, which is at work in all our countries, and certainly in many regions of France. It is the feeling that Europe, its governments and its institutions, are out of touch with the legitimate concerns of the people; discontent with a Europe that does nothing to protect against the excesses of globalization, a Europe that has for too long advocated deregulation and ultra-liberalism, with insufficient regard for the social and environmental consequences.
The financial crisis of 2008 very nearly brought it all down. The crisis was the result of a caricature of liberalism and a notion of ‘pure’ or ‘perfect’ competition to which first London, and then Europe, had ended up conforming. It wrenched open great fault lines of poverty, exclusion and despair, which also go some way towards explaining the anti-European sentiment found in the UK and elsewhere.
This anger is also being expressed against a Europe that has not been able to control its external borders or convincingly demonstrate its solidarity. A Europe that has not been able to protect its industry, nor anticipate the digital revolution that is now intruding upon all aspects of our lives. A Europe seen as overly complex and insufficiently democratic. And above all, to put it bluntly, a Europe that no longer offers any promise of progress or any hope of a better future for all.
What was, and remains, the raison d’être of the European project? Since the 1950s, Europe has above all stood for the choice to face up to the great changes afoot in the world and to come to terms with them rather than just passively suffering them. To be the actor of its own destiny rather than a spectator. To assert a shared sovereignty, in an era when the nation alone is no longer enough. And finally, to pool resources on a continental scale in order to yield common benefits and to pursue projects that are larger than any one country.
The ECSC, the European Coal and Steel Community, formally established in 1951 in the wake of a war that left our continent in ruins, initiated the industrial reconstruction of Europe and, through this ‘de facto solidarity’, promoted a lasting peace between our nations.
The CAP, the Common Agricultural Policy, launched in 1962, enabled us to regain our collective food sovereignty and to preserve the diversity of territories, traceability and product quality.
The cohesion policy, developed from 1988 onwards under the impetus of Jacques Delors, has enabled the most disadvantaged regions progressively to catch up as our Union has expanded.
The transition from a set of national markets to a single market, in 1993, promoted the development of our companies, in particular SMEs and MSBs, while offering consumers more choice.
And since 1999, the single currency has facilitated trade between the countries that adopted it and shielded us from exchange rate risk. As is too often forgotten, the euro is also an instrument of emancipation, protecting us from American monetary hegemony. During the recent crises – the sovereign debt crisis, and then the current health crisis – it is the euro and the European Central Bank’s monetary policy that have saved us from the precipice.
All these shared benefits are something to be proud of! And we can also be proud of the fact that we have reinforced and shared them over time, especially since 1 May 2004, when Poland and nine other countries joined the EU in that great moment of reunification of the European continent. In fifteen years, we have welcomed – and it was no easy task! – more than a hundred million new European citizens who left poverty and dictatorship for the promise of shared progress. What other group of nations, what other continent, has achieved so much collectively? None.
But, for the past fifteen years at least, Europe has failed to mobilize Europeans around collective projects that respond to the great transformations afoot in the world. Transformations in the face of which our nations, alone, can do little: climate change and pandemic, industrial and technological change, the challenges of migration and of the invisible powers of financial markets and terrorism, the unilateralist temptation in the US, the rise of China and the influence of Russia.
If we really want to take on these challenges, then we must rediscover the ambition that first led to the construction of Europe, and begin building new common goods for the twenty-seven member countries. To be fair, the Commission has embarked upon some valuable initiatives in recent years. For the protection of our environment via the European Green Deal, for an industrial policy fit for the challenges of digital technology, artificial intelligence and sustainable energy, for a genuine European defence force, and for control of our external borders. And for continued control, via supervision, regulation and greater transparency, of the power of the financial markets and the new giants of the digital economy. We owe all of this to the generations to come. What we ourselves do not do for Europe, no one else will do for us.
Some time ago, on a train, I met Mark, a British professor who works in Amsterdam on European space policy. He summed up his misgivings about Brexit in a single sentence, eight words full of dreams and regrets: ‘Only together can we explore the Solar System.’
What is true for the Solar System is also true for other challenges. In the coming world, a world of increasingly powerful and uprooted continent-states and multinationals, no country in the European Union, whether the smallest or the largest, stands the slightest chance of safeguarding its sovereignty without combining it with that of its neighbours.
It is our duty to be clearsighted about this. Today, in the twenty-first century, where do the risks of servitude lie and how can we protect ourselves from them? The great illusion consists in the idea that we can face alone the often brutal transformations our world is going through. That we can stand alone against new political, economic and financial giants. And in believing in the promise of solitary identities and sovereignties, rather than in solidarity.
On the other hand, though, we can never meet these challenges if the European Union insists on conducting its business from Brussels, at odds with the identities and the sovereignty of the peoples that make it up.
We are not a European people. We do not want to be a European nation. Right now, we are twenty-seven separate populations, speaking twenty-four official languages. We are twenty-seven nations and we have twenty-seven states, each of which holds on to its differences, its traditions, and its culture.
People have their reasons, no doubt. And the feelings they express must be listened to and respected. I have never confused popular sentiment with populism.
I understand and I share every person’s special attachment to their country, to their homeland. But this rootedness can and must go hand-in-hand with a commitment to Europe.
Throughout my life I have had a certain idea of Europe. This idea has never replaced or weakened my pride in being French, or diminished the strength of my patriotism. ‘A patriot and a European’ – this is the best summary of my political position and my fundamental convictions.
We all have our regrets and our dreams. What I am certain of is that every citizen is needed. Each and every one of us has a role to play in maintaining the European dream alongside our national dream.
At the end of this long negotiation, it was this same message I chose to convey when, at the beginning of 2021, I was invited to speak by European Movement Ireland: ‘Ní neart go cur le chéile.’*
The European Union will never be a panacea for all ills. It cannot and must not be. Indeed, it is quite right for it to take a back seat when the burden of its standards threatens to stifle local initiative or inflame national resentments.
But by working together at all levels, we can build a Europe that protects and inspires us. A Europe that Europeans will not want to leave. A Europe that allows us once more to be stronger together in the world. We have to approach this world with our eyes open, without nostalgia for past glories. It is a world which will only become safer if it becomes fairer.
It’s very late in the day. But it’s not too late.
My vote is cast!
A referendum was being held – a different referendum – and this was my very first vote as a young French citizen… Early in the morning of 23 April 1972, in a town hall in Val des Roses, Albertville, a place so familiar to me.
Once a church, the hall had now been claimed for more republican purposes: it frequently hosted public meetings and, on election days, this was where the polling station was set up.
On that particular day, the question submitted to the French people by President of the Republic Georges Pompidou was a simple one: ‘Do you agree with the new opportunities opening up in Europe, the draft law submitted to the French people by the President of the Republic, and authorizing the ratification of the Treaty concerning the accession of the United Kingdom, Denmark, Ireland and Norway to the European Communities?’
For the Gaullist party, the answer to this question was not so obvious. Some years earlier, in 1963 and then again in 1967, General de Gaulle had vetoed the accession of the United Kingdom. But times had changed and so had the French president, and a young Gaullist activist like myself had no qualms about answering ‘yes’ to the question.
Moreover, this was the first time citizens of my country had been directly consulted on the European project. I remember well how the question divided socialist leaders, and in particular how Georges Pompidou, who had established a constructive relationship with Edward Heath, the British Prime Minister at the time, was able to use the referendum as a way to gracefully move on from his illustrious predecessor’s double veto.
I have never regretted the vote I cast that day.
Notes
*
Le Monde
, 17 August 2018, ‘Sir Donald McCullin en son pays’.
*
In Gaelic: ‘No strength without unity.’
Origins of the Referendum
Wednesday, 23 January 2013. David Cameron, aged 46, had been the UK’s Conservative Prime Minister since 2010. His party had formed the country’s first post-war coalition government together with the Liberal Democrats. Their policy of austerity, implemented with great zeal, had succeeded in easing pressure on public finances. Growth was gradually returning. But the government now found itself faced with the rise of the anti-immigration and Eurosceptic UK Independence Party (UKIP).
It was on this day, in a speech given at the financial news agency Bloomberg, that the Prime Minister chose to talk about his country’s future within the European Union. He began by recalling the very particular position of the British within the Union:
We have the character of an island nation: independent, outspoken, passionate in defending our sovereignty.
We can no more change that British sensibility than we can drain the English Channel.
And because of that sensibility, we come to the European Union with a frame of mind that is more practical than emotional.
For us, the European Union is a means to an end – prosperity, stability, the anchor of freedom and democracy both within Europe and beyond her shores – not an end in itself.*
Cameron went on to enumerate three major challenges facing the EU: the Eurozone crisis, the competitiveness challenge and the gap between the EU and its citizens. ‘If we don’t address these challenges’, he warned, ‘the danger is that Europe will fail and the British people will drift towards the exit.’
The Prime Minister maintained that he did not want this to happen, and set out the way forward for a competitive, flexible and fair Europe in which power would flow back to member states and the Union would be accountable to the people. He then proposed a referendum on his country’s membership of the Union – to be held not immediately, but once an attempt had been made to reset the relationship with a ‘new settlement’ between the EU and the UK.
Much has been written about the timing of and the reasons behind this announcement, which helped reassure voters who may have been tempted by Nigel Farage’s UKIP, thus putting David Cameron on track for a second term in office, which he would go on to win in 2015.
In any case, with David Cameron re-elected as Prime Minister, the European Commission wasted no time in setting up its first task force, under the supervision of British Director-General Jonathan Faull, to deal with ‘strategic issues related to the UK referendum’.
On 19 February 2016, discussions with the UK brought to fruition Cameron’s ‘new settlement’, addressing the concerns he had expressed three years earlier, in particular by acknowledging that the UK would not be bound by the objective of an ‘ever closer union among the peoples of Europe’.
On the subject of the free movement of persons, the UK gained the right to limit access to social benefits for newly arrived workers from other member states for up to four years. It also gained the option to index child benefit for parents working in the UK, but whose children have remained in their country of origin, to the standard of living in their country of origin.
We all know what came next. These measures, aside from being questionable from the point of view of social justice, would not prevent the British from deciding, after all, to leave the European Union.
Notes
*
https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/eu-speech-at-bloomberg
.
DIARY
2016
Friday, 24 June 2016: A rude awakening
This early summer morning began with a rude awakening for all Europeans. We went to our beds last night certain that the British had voted to remain in the European Union. All initial commentaries suggested this was the case. Even Nigel Farage, one of the most ardent Leave campaigners, seemed to have conceded defeat.
Now, this morning, everyone is stunned. The precise counting of votes is finished. Fifty-two per cent of the British public who voted have chosen to leave the EU!
It’s an earthquake. For the first time, an EU country has decided to leave.
By chance, I have an appointment this morning with François Hollande at the Élysée Palace. He is as shocked as I am. A profound geopolitical change is imminent in Europe. For the French President as for the German Chancellor – for all of us – this is a wake-up call, a collective failure from which we must try to draw some lessons.
Sunday, 26 June 2016: Three British divides
Now that the shock has subsided, the analysis begins.
In reality, Thursday’s vote reveals a threefold divide within British society.
First of all, a geographical divide. England and Wales may have voted to leave the EU, but the Remain camp accounted for 62 per cent of voters in Greater London and Scotland, and 56 per cent in Northern Ireland. Poring over this map of a ‘Disunited Kingdom’, I also note with interest the position of the great industrial working-class cities affected by the decline of industry, whose Leave vote can in part be understood as a rejection of the Prime Minister’s austerity policy.
Second, a very clear social divide between graduates and well-off workers, who voted to remain in the Union, and the working poor and the unemployed, many of whom voted Leave as a symbol of their rejection of a Europe they associate with globalization, and in particular with the arrival of workers from Eastern Europe, who they accuse of stealing jobs and driving down wages.
Finally, there is also a generational divide behind this result, a divide between young people, who see their future as being within the EU – more than 70 per cent of 18–24-year-olds voted to remain – and older people, the majority of whom voted to leave. In this generational battle, the older cohort had a significant weapon at its disposal: participation. In all, 83 per cent of over-65s cast their vote, compared with only one in three young people.
Thursday, 7 July 2016: On the plane with Jean-Claude Juncker
Jean-Claude Juncker lands in Warsaw this afternoon to participate in the NATO summit and to sign a cooperation protocol between the EU and the North Atlantic Alliance alongside Donald Tusk, President of the European Council.
For the past ten months, at the Commission President’s request, I have been his special adviser on defence and security policy. These are issues that have always been of interest to me; indeed, in 2002 I chaired the European Convention’s Working Group on Defence. My group’s suggestions at the time for strengthening defence cooperation within the EU have now been incorporated into the Treaty. It’s all in there: a stronger role for the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, a European Defence Agency, the solidarity clause and the possibility for a group of countries to set out as ‘pathfinders’ by way of ‘structured cooperation’.
Aside from my interest in the subject, Jean-Claude Juncker’s proposal that I should work alongside him was rather touching since, only two years earlier at the EPP [European People’s Party] congress, we had competed as nominees to become the centre-right European election candidate and, ultimately, to stand for President of the European Commission. He won, with the decisive support of the CDU/CSU [German Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union parliamentary party]. I lost, but honourably so, having received a respectable 40 per cent of the votes cast.
So here I am on this sunny afternoon, on the plane to Warsaw with the President of the Commission. He has kindly invited me to join him tomorrow for a private meeting with President Obama and several members of his cabinet.
Suddenly, President Juncker turns to me, gestures to his young diplomatic adviser Richard Szostak not to listen, and says: ‘Michel, I have a sensitive matter to discuss with you. Would you consider returning to the Commission in a permanent position, to lead negotiations with the United Kingdom following its decision to leave the European Union?’ Naturally, I am taken aback by the question. To tell the truth, the day after the British Brexit vote, my mind had been more on how I could make myself useful in my own country, during what looked likely to be both a historic and a perilous period.
For fifteen years now, at various times and in various different capacities, I have had to deal with the major issues that will lie at the heart of the Brexit negotiations: first as Commissioner for Regional Policy and Constitutional Affairs from 1999 to 2004, then a little later in 2008 as President of the European Agricultural and Fisheries Council – but above all from 2010 to 2014 as European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services.
My answer to Jean-Claude Juncker is therefore unhesitating and positive. ‘I have to check how the idea will go down in certain quarters’, he adds with a smile. ‘Don’t mention anything, we’ll talk again soon…’
