‘Brexit straining EU’s united front’

Bloomberg

National interests are starting to test the united front that the 27 remaining European Union members have shown so far during the Brexit talks, according to three people with knowledge of the process.
Less than a week before EU leaders meet to consider a transition deal for the UK, their officials have aired their differences over the way forward, the people said, asking not to be named discussing private talks.
At issue is whether to add language on specific industries—and addressing the concerns of specific countries—to their mandate for chief negotiator Michel Barnier.
At a meeting in Brussels, Spain—whose national airline Iberia is owned by the same company as British Airways—signalled it would like specific references to aviation while Luxembourg wants more detail on financial services. Fisheries and agriculture could also be given more detail.
But other countries believe the guidelines should remain broad to facilitate unity and give Barnier flexibility as the British government’s position evolves.
They also want to avoid accusations of “cherry picking”—a charge the EU-27 have frequently levelled at the UK.
British efforts to create divisions between the remaining countries have yielded few returns so far, despite ministers’ frequent trips to national capitals.
Yet as the negotiations shift toward the two sides’ future partnership, European diplomats acknowledge that national interests will diverge and a common position will be more difficult to maintain. A press officer at the Spanish Foreign Ministry wasn’t immediately able to comment. A spokesman for the Luxembourg government didn’t immediately respond when contacted by Bloomberg News.
Draft EU guidelines for the next phase of negotiations were published earlier this month and will form the basis of the statement EU leaders will release after their summit this Friday.
A fresh version was circulated to capitals to reflect ambassadors’ discussions at their meeting and representatives from national governments will cast their eyes over them on Monday before EU affairs ministers will do the same. The recent meeting also saw Ireland make its case for the UK to show progress on a plan to prevent the re-emergence of a hard Irish border before the EU agrees to a post-Brexit transition period.
There is no formal link between the border issue and the transition deal, but Ireland wants UK PM Theresa May’s government to publicly accept the need for a “fallback” option.

Brexit claims Luxembourg stakes
Bloomberg

Luxembourg is seeking to persuade at least two additional global insurers to make their post-Brexit home there after attracting American International Group Inc. and Sompo International Holdings Ltd., the head of its financial lobbying group said.
“Contingency planning has started, but in September-October it will be crunch time,” Nicolas Mackel, the head of Luxembourg for Finance, said. Staff flows from London in favour of Luxembourg are accelerating in areas such as money-management, he said, pointing to Citigroup Inc.’s plans to make it a hub for its private banking business.
Luxembourg City, a venue for European funds, insurance companies and private banks, should win about 3,000 jobs by the end of 2018, Mackel said. That’s approximately on par with estimates for Paris. Following the 2016 Brexit vote, ten global insurers have already picked Luxembourg as their new EU hub. “Paris’s advantage is to be home of large players,” he said. Until now, “trading is rather going toward Frankfurt and wealth management toward Luxembourg.” Luxembourg can increase its financial workforce by 7 percent from Brexit-related moves, he said.