A single sentence from a senior EU official sums up the frustration with Brexit

Reuters/Francois Lenoir

LONDON – Valdis Dombrovskis, the European Commission’s vice president for the financial services sector, summed up the European Union’s view on Brexit in one perfect sentence.

After giving a speech in London on Friday, Dombrovskis was asked by an audience member what he would like to see the EU get out of the Brexit process, and how he sees negotiations.

His response was a pithy summary of just how frustrated Brussels’ top brass are with Britain’s plans to leave the bloc.

Here’s the quote (emphasis ours):

“Inevitably the will be some economic disruption by clearing out decades of economic integration. Unfortunately, it will be a situation where we will be spending lots of time and energy moving from Point A to Point B, when we already know that Point B is likely to be worse than Point A.

“That, unfortunately, is the reality that we are in.”

The European Union’s most senior staff have been pretty unequivocal in their distaste for Brexit since the vote, and Dombrovskis is no different, saying: “This is not the destination we want to go towards. As I said, and as President Juncker has said, we regret but respect the decision. Nevertheless, it is not something where we wanted to go.”

Dombrovskis’ comments come during a trip to the UK to discuss the European Commission’s plan to accelerate Europe’s capital markets union — a scheme designed to “lower the cost of funding and make the financial system more resilient — and to discuss a range of issues surrounding the British financial sector’s role in Europe after Brexit.

The day before the trip, Dombrovskis hinted in an interview with the newspaper City AM that Brussels could be ready to take away London’s role as the main centre for the clearing of euro-denominated trading.

“There are several factors at play,” Dombrovskis told City AM.

“One is financial stability. There are questions related to the enforceability of swap lines between ECB and Bank of England if the UK is to move out of the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice.”

He reiterated that position in his speech at Bloomberg’s European headquarters on Friday, saying that the European Commission will “look at” proposals from the ECB to move clearing activities out of London.