Kompromat

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Michael O’Rourke, the first Irish President of the European Commission, was all smiles when UK prime minister, Jeremy Hartley, entered his office on the 13th Floor of the European Commission’s Berlaymont Building in the heart of Brussels.

‘Good evening, Prime Minister,’ O’Rourke came to the door of his huge office to greet his distinguished guest. They shook hands warmly.

Hartley was accompanied by Sir Luke Threadgold, Britain’s ambassador to the EU, more properly known as the UK Permanent Representative.

‘Good evening, Sir Luke,’ O’Rourke said.

‘Good evening, Mr President.’

In Brussels, it was important to get the titles right. These things counted.

Just as they were sitting down, a tall flaxen-haired woman, in her early thirties, came into the room.

Hartley leapt to his feet. ‘Hello, Mary.’ He gave her a kiss on both cheeks. During the course of the long and painful negotiation that the prime minister had conducted with Britain’s European partners in the run-up to the Referendum, Mary Burns had gone out of her way to be helpful. Or at least as helpful as she could be in the circumstances.

As the president of the Commission’s Chef de Cabinet, Mary Burns was one of the most important people in Brussels. She organized O’Rourke’s day. Set the agenda. Nothing came into, or left, O’Rourke’s office without Mary Burns knowing about it.

‘Come and join us, Mary,’ O’Rourke said.

While the prime minister sat on the sofa, the others pulled up chairs.

‘As you can imagine,’ O’Rourke began, ‘I have been working very closely with the Member States, very closely indeed, to avoid an unfortunate outcome. I admit that at the beginning we could have done more to help the UK. I’m sorry we didn’t. We could perhaps have avoided some very long evenings.’

‘All-night sessions, as I remember,’ Jeremy Hartley interjected.

They all laughed. Get a joke in early on. That had always been Hartley’s policy.

‘The good news, Mr Prime Minister,’ O’Rourke continued, ‘is frankly that there has been a change of mood among the Member States in recent days. They are all increasingly concerned that a vote for Brexit in the Referendum may destabilize Europe as a whole. There are so-called populist movements in half a dozen countries – France, the Netherlands, Italy – I needn’t name them all. For my own country, Ireland, Brexit will pose a special problem. Are we going to reintroduce border controls between Northern Ireland and the south? I would hope not. Am I making myself clear, Prime Minister?’

Hartley nodded. The Irish, he thought, sometimes took a long time to get to the point but they got there in the end.

‘We realize,’ O’Rourke continued, ‘that the migration issue has always been at the top of the UK’s list of demands in the renegotiation.’

‘And it still is,’ Hartley said. ‘The problem is our plea fell on deaf ears. The other Member States hardly moved an inch.’

The president of the Commission, noticing that the door to his office was still open, rose from his seat, and walked across the room to close it.

‘At the moment, what I am about to say is totally confidential. The president of the European Council has called a special session at 10:00a.m. tomorrow morning. The truth is that the UK is no longer alone in its concern about migration. There are other Member States that are now as alarmed as you are.’

He gestured towards the huge television standing next to the EU flag in the corner of his office.

‘If I were to turn on that television now, what would I see? I would see riots in German streets, cars burning in France. In Holland, the phenomenal rise of the anti-Muslim party. And it’s not just the TV; the newspapers are full of it.’

‘And social media too, Mr President,’ Mary Burns reminded her boss.

‘So what are you proposing, Mr President?’ Jeremy Hartley asked quietly.

Michael O’Rourke glanced again in the direction of the door, as though to check that it was still closed.

‘What the Commission is going to propose tomorrow, at the meeting of the European Council, is a solution to the migration question which I am sure will meet your approval. Let me explain. When you put forward your own proposals earlier this year in the context of the “renegotiation”, you proposed that the UK should be able to introduce what you called an “emergency brake” on migration.’

‘Yes, and you turned us down flat,’ Hartley reminded him. ‘If you had accommodated us on that, everything would be different today. But you didn’t give us the help we needed. Isn’t it a bit late in the day to come forward with something now?’

‘I’m afraid you have misunderstood me, Mr Prime Minister,’ O’Rourke said. ‘What the Commission is proposing now is an EU-wide solution to the migration problem. Not just a formula to keep the UK happy but a way forward that will work for every Member State. To be specific, we are proposing that any Member State that believes it is under intolerable pressure as a result of migratory movements may introduce an emergency brake. And the key point is that emergency brake will be able to last just as long as the Member State concerned thinks it is necessary.’

‘Why didn’t you think of this before?’ Hartley asked. ‘It would have saved a hell of a lot of trouble.’

Michael O’Rourke did his best to soothe the prime minister’s ruffled feelings.

‘The time wasn’t right then. We think the time is right now.’

‘I’d like to see the language,’ Hartley said.

Michael O’Rourke turned to his Chef de Cabinet. ‘Mary, would you be kind enough to read the text to the gentlemen.’

Mary Burns had a soft, lilting Irish voice, which could lend light and life to even the dullest prose.

Hartley stood up. ‘I’ll have to consult the Cabinet on this overnight. As you can imagine, the implications are enormous. This could change everything.’

A thought occurred to him. ‘Are all the other Member States agreed on this? The Council would have to be unanimous, wouldn’t it?’

‘The decision of the Council would indeed have to be unanimous. And, yes, as far as we know, all the Member States are agreed.’ O’Rourke reassured him.

‘What do you mean, “as far as you know”?’ Hartley asked sharply.

‘We are still waiting to hear from our German colleagues. The Chancellor apparently has been hard to reach. But we do not anticipate any problems.’