The Spanish press is not giving much attention to Brexit anymore except times like now when the Tories are trying to break an international agreement.
I read today an article on "El Confidential" a conservative Spanish newspaper which explains the feeling about Britain and Brexit these days. Indifference.
I've done a goggle translate, it's not great but right on target on the message.
From wrong beliefs to miscalculations: Brexit enters the impasse
The UK has misjudged its cards and has embarked on a move that could end in a no-deal Brexit. Far from getting attention, indifference has deepened
What surprised the most about Brexit in its first years of negotiation was the lack of preparation of the British team . No one had understood the Union better than the United Kingdom. They had the best diplomats, the best technical experts, and therefore the best cards within the community bloc. London would be was going to be the loser in negotiating with the Twenty-Seven, but it could make things difficult: they were still the best negotiators in Europe .
The amateurism and lack of preparation surprised many. At each step taken, London measured poorly, made mistakes, had unrealistic perspectives or simply did not understand the consequences of what was being negotiated. It is true that Brexit is the result of a revolt that precisely sought to oust experts , true diplomats or politicians who were not manifestly committed to the Eurosceptic crusade.
When we thought that Brexit had already given its all, the new season returns more powerful than ever. Olly Robbins, a henchman who was put at the forefront of negotiations by former Prime Minister Theresa May as the UK walked off the cliff, managed to earn the respect of the Union, but at home he had to deal with the 'Brexiter' coven in that he was one of the greatest traitors to the country. This is how the United Kingdom lost what would have been one of the key players in a negotiation that is probably much better managed: Sir Ivan Rogers, the ambassador to the European Union between 2013 and 2017 and one of the people who best understood the negotiations. Accused by conservative party radicals to be an EU sympathizer above his commitment to the government, Rogers resigned .
That is why, and in the midst of the crusade of Boris Johnson's new Tory party center of power, led by his eccentric adviser Dominic Cummings, against Whitehall's line of good technical experts and diplomats, it should not be completely surprising what has happened in recent years. days.
Towards irrelevance
After months of negotiations to launch an Economic Recovery Fund in the face of the crisis generated by Covid-19, and with all the leaders also focused on the situation in their countries, the United Kingdom knew that it had lost the attention of the 27. Much more urgent problems occupied them.
That is why many in Brussels believed that it was a matter of time before the British Government did something to regain some attention. Some maneuver to attract spotlight. The negotiating team, led by David Frost, has few technical solutions and many electoral red lines. With a coup, Johnson could bring some politics back to the talks and win some serious European concessions . A threat serious enough for the 27 to give in to the risk of a no-deal, without actually breaking the negotiations.
Boris Johnson, the British Prime Minister, had two reasons for doing so: on the one hand it allowed him to once again show himself to his electorate as a strong leader ready to stand up to Brussels, and on the other he managed to regain the attention of a European Union distracted by others matters, perhaps achieving some assignment. Or at least that was his intention.
"There has to be an agreement with our European friends before the European Council on October 15 if it is going to come into force before the end of the year," says the head of the British Government.
But the British prime minister's team misjudged . Last Sunday it was leaked that the Government intended to launch a bill, the UK Internal Market, which would annul parts of the Withdrawal Agreement signed with the European Union. Specifically, it would blow up parts of the Protocol of Ireland, the most delicate section of the legal text, the one that cost the most to negotiate and the nuclear one for the interests of the 27: it prevents the return of a border between the Republic of Ireland (EU) and Northern Ireland (UK province).
Those rumors were serious. If confirmed, it would mean that London was in flagrant violation of international law. In the first hours it was hoped that it was only a media movement with the intention of increasing the pressure on the European side. On Tuesday a government minister confirmed the information in the House of Commons, using the formula that has already gone down in the history of negotiations: yes, the United Kingdom was going to violate international law, but in a “specific” way and "Limited", as if that would lessen the gravity of the events.
It shouldn't be entirely a surprise: the crusade against the experts has shocking consequences . It has been noticed during these months of negotiation, and it has been noticed in the last hours. The resignation of Jonathan Jones, one of the Government's top lawyers, must be understood in that context.
Like so many other times, the strategy has no basis. Those who star in Brexit have a characteristic of their own that does not disappear no matter how long time passes: they never learn from their mistakes, their beliefs remain intact. They said that Angela Merkel would come to the rescue of the United Kingdom and force an agreement, which did not happen, although London kept repeating it will happen. It was assured that the leaders of the 27 would remove negotiator Michel Barnier to speak face to face with the prime minister, something that never happened, although the British media continue to insist on it today. It was assured that the 27 would sell out to Ireland if it forced the situation by asking for a special status for Northern Ireland, and of course it didn't happen.
This time, perhaps because of all those wrong and accumulated beliefs, the movement has gone too far. So much so that it has managed to generate just the opposite of what expected. Instead of attention, what the British Government has obtained is a certain disinterest: if it is a bluff, it will back down; If it is not, then there is nothing to do , the negotiations will fail and there will be a no-deal exit.
The pulse is of no benefit to the UK , and that is one of the reasons why the European Union maintains a steady hand and a cool head. The operation is strange because it does not get anything in return. On the one hand, London has gone too far, broken the principle of negotiating in good faith and done irreversible damage to the talks, so it cannot expect the EU to give in on anything. Furthermore, it has made the mistake of pressing the key that has ensured the unity of the 27 throughout the process, which has been the peace process in Ireland.
Belfast has been a broken toy used for internal UK political gambling. Brexit has been one more chapter, but now a new path is opening for Northern Ireland. On the other hand, the British Government, which should be fully aware of the nature of the Union, seeks that the 27 allow, or even negotiate, with a party that uses extortion as one more method. The EU is a club that seeks, among other objectives, to exercise power. And it does it, always, by the rules. If the 27 tolerate breaking the rules as a way of doing business, then they sacrifice one of their main instruments.
It is true that this is a world in which the rules are ceasing to matter. London only replicates what is already seen on the other side of the Atlantic. The movement is a copy of Washington's attempt to blow up the foundations of multilateralism. The EU has been keeping up with Trump for years, and it is not going to roll the red carpet for Johnson now .
Furthermore, the movement is not only clumsy due to its obvious ineffectiveness in the framework of negotiations with the European Union. It's strange from the UK's perspective of the future, or, as the Brexiters call that strategy, “Global Britain”. The Eurosceptic creed indicates that London wants to get rid of the European chains to be able to negotiate with the whole world. But the message that the British Government is sending these days to the rest of the globe is that no one will be able to close a deal with them with the peace of mind that the agreement will not blow up later. Blowing up your international reputation does not seem, a priori, a very wise move.
But it is not just the UK that is in a difficult position. The European Union does not have it easy now. It has asked the government to withdraw the controversial paragraphs of the Internal Market Law before the end of the month. And if they don't do it? Then the ball will be on the roof of the European Commission . Various sources suggest that, in that case, the British side would be considered to have risen from the negotiating table.
In any case, Brussels does not want to be the one to verbalize the end of the negotiations, because nobody wants to give London ammunition to blame the European Union for having broken the talks and, therefore, bear the responsibility of the consequences derived from it.
www.elconfidencial.com/mundo/europa/2020-09-15/de-las-creencias-erroneas-a-los-fallos-de-calculo-el-brexit-entra-en-el-callejon-sin-salida_2749404/