Dear David, In commenting on Roger Bootle's article yesterday, you wrote "Once out of the EU, the UK can propose sensible trade terms with individual European nations..." As I understand it, once the UK leaves the EU it will only be able to negotiate trade agreements with the EU Commission and not with individual EU countries. Under EU treaties, it is the Commission that has exclusive authority to negotiate trade deal on behalf of its members as a whole. Were you referring to all the other European countries in your comments?

David Fuller's view

Thanks for this email and you are correct in terms of the rules for EU treaties.  However, we also know that the bigger EU countries, notably Germany and France, often set their own conditions on various issues, regardless of the EU’ rules which are treated as no more than flexible guidelines. 

The EU, I suggest, is in crisis mode.  Old rules are being ignored and new guidelines are adopted by different countries on a frequent basis.  The political situation in many countries is currently less stable or predictable than at any time in the EU’s history. 

Against this background and in the event of a “hard Brexit” by the UK, which I favour, does anyone think that Germany’s automobile manufacturers will be approaching and then waiting on the EU Commission to negotiate their future trade terms with the UK?  I think not, and I also suspect that all EU countries will be similarly negotiating trade terms in their best interests, with or without the EU Commission.