A tariff-free trade deal between the UK and EU is expected to be announced on Christmas Eve
Credit: KENZO TRIBOUILLARD /AFP
As Britain and the European Union seemed to edge closer to a Brexit deal, European newspapers reacted with disappointment at the imminent breakup and satisfaction at the concessions reportedly made by the British negotiating team.
But after two days of front pages around the world showing queues of thousands of lorries stuck in Kent after border closures due to the new Covid-19 variant, newspapers were only mildly interested in the Brexit negotiations.
In France, news stories focused on how to make the imminent Christmas celebrations safe as daily new Covid-19 infections remained high. Brexit coverage, however, focused on the "enormous concessions" made by the British government in the trade agreement with the 27-country bloc, as reported by AFP.
"If the discussions do not come to anything and end in a ‘no deal’, Europe will have much less to lose than the United Kingdom," the French news agency reported.
Meanwhile, French journalist François Lenglet criticised the British ambition to "stop paying the EU budget, make their own decisions while enjoying the benefits of the single market."
"The British want to have their cake and eat it," he wrote in an op-ed for French radio RTL.
The worrying scenes at Dover were seen as a warning for what a no-deal Brexit cold look like
Credit: JUSTIN TALLIS /AFP
Britain’s departure will leave a big gap in the EU and that is a matter for regret, the Italian daily La Stampa wrote.
But it has shown the "eternal mantra" of the British, who have never considered themselves truly European, the paper added. "The British will still go on holiday in Tuscany, the Cote d’Azur and Andalucia, regarding the locals from on high, as they have done for centuries."
After a process that began with the Brexit vote in 2016, the paper offered advice in a time of transition. "The British need to think about their future outside the EU. And the EU needs to reinforce the solidarity of the bloc and relaunch transatlantic relations with the new US administration."
"The challenge now is to not let Brexit become a geopolitical fracture that would weaken both sides, to the advantage of other big global actors."
The impending trade deal received little attention in the German media on Christmas Eve, as the focus remained on Germany rapidly becoming the problem child of Europe with rising Covid-19 cases.
In a media landscape hostile to Brexit, an agreement between the British government and the EU has diminished the narrative of a country driving at full speed towards a precipice of its own making.
The majority of European media outlets have focussed on Britain's coronavirus crisis, rather than Brexit negotiations
Credit: TOLGA AKMEN /AFP
The liberal Die Zeit’s London correspondent reported that "a large section of the British public will breath a sigh of relief — given that a majority of the British public have in the meantime decided that they would have rather remained in the EU, they will certainly prefer a free trade agreement to a no deal scenario."
Senior German politicians have not publicly commented on the news of a deal ahead of official announcements from Brussels.
As the hours passed with no official announcement, Spanish politicians kept their counsel and no government members were willing to anticipate what will be celebrated as welcome news in a country that has enormous economic ties with the UK.
Reporting that the breakthrough was near, the newspaper El País said the agreement between the EU and Britain would mark “the beginning of a new era between two partners who cannot ignore each other for historical and geographical reasons, but whose coexistence has deteriorated over decades” leading up to the Brexit referendum victory.
Spain’s leading conservative newspapers, El Mundo and ABC, focused on the “chaos” at Dover.
ABC’s Brussels correspondent pointed out the thousands of trucks lining up at the border had "served to illustrate what could happen if there is no treaty to regulate the rules between the former partners before January 1”.
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