May tells France ‘UK to be close ally after Brexit’

Bloomberg ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­

UK Prime Minister Theresa May continued a charm offensive to ease European worries about Brexit by writing an opinion column in France to say Britain will be reasonable about the conditions of its departure and wants to remain the nation’s closest ally after it exits.
“My message to the citizens of France is clear: In the years to come, the United Kingdom wants to be your friend and closest partner,” May wrote in the column, published in French weekly Journal du Dimanche two days after a speech in Florence. “We want to see the EU and the United Kingdom prosper together, side by side.”
May said she knows the UK can’t “pretend to benefit from the advantages of membership without accepting the duties.” She also repeated that the UK will “honour the commitments it made when it was a member of the EU.” Nevertheless, she said certain requests made in relation to the EU budget are “exaggerated” and warned that the issue can only be solved as part of a deal on all other matters.
In her speech in Florence, May said that the UK is prepared to plug the EU’s budget gap during a transition that would probably be about two years after the country withdraws from the bloc in 2019.
This would equate to about 20 billion euros ($24 billion). But the EU wants more, possibly as much as another 80 billion euros in gross terms, to cover past commitments, and it’s unclear to EU negotiators whether May promised to pay for that.

PM hit by credit rating blow
Bloomberg

The UK had its credit rating cut by Moody’s Investors Service, which blamed Brexit, a sluggish economy and Theresa May’s weakened political position.
It lowered the UK by one notch to Aa2, the third-highest investment grade.
While both other major rating companies downgraded Britain shortly after the referendum in 2016, this is the first cut since May’s election gamble backfired this summer, wiping out her majority, and, according to Moody’s, forcing her into unhelpful fiscal compromises.
The Moody’s announcement came just hours after Prime Minister May gave a key speech on her vision for the UK’s separation from the European Union. In it, she said she would seek a transition period of around two years after Brexit, but failed to outline specifics on the divorce bill. “Moody’s is no longer confident that the UK government will be able to secure a replacement free trade agreement with the EU which substantially mitigates the negative economic impact of Brexit.”
It expects weaker public finances, partly due to slower economic growth, but also reflecting “increasing political and social pressures to raise spending after seven years of spending cuts.” The decision was part of the rating companies scheduled calendar of sovereign reviews.
The election “reinforced some of those concerns around the fiscal policy that we had before,” said Kathrin Muehlbronner, lead UK Sovereign Analyst at Moody’s. “The low hanging fruit has been picked and the fat has been trimmed. That clearly has been an issue during the election campaign.”
The government responded that the rating assessment is out of date after May set out what it said was an “ambitious vision” for Brexit.

Brexit noise fades as EU moves on
Bloomberg

The European Union is making it abundantly clear that it has more important issues to worry about than Britain’s departure from the bloc.
Now that the EU is finally out of crisis mode, it’s more interested in working on defense, monetary union and human rights than Brexit, according to the European Commissioner for Jobs and Investment Jyrki Katainen. He says that, aside from those officials specifically tasked with dealing with the UK’s exit talks, the rest of the Commission doesn’t even touch the subject on a weekly basis. “As important as it is to have a good deal and settle the situation, it doesn’t dominate the work of the EU at all,” Katainen said.
“I’m not saying this because I would like to undermine the importance of these negotiations, but simply there are bigger issues on the agenda.”
Katainen says he worries more about the development in Poland than in Britain.