- Barnier said Britain would be excluded from anti-terror cooperation after Brexit
- He claimed Brexit means the UK leaving Europol and European Defence Agency
- New intervention comes despite claim Brexit will not affect Europol membership
Michel Barnier has taunted that Britain faces new vulnerabilities to terrorism after Brexit just hours before new talks officially begin.
The EU chief negotiator claimed in a French newspaper article that Britain quitting the European Union would see it excluded from Europol, the European Defence Agency and the council of defence ministers.
The incendiary intervention emerged just hours after Europol’s British chief called for deeper intelligence sharing.
Michel Barnier has taunted that Britain faces new vulnerabilities to terrorism after Brexit just hours before new talks officially begin (file image)
Mr Barnier’s comments to Le Monde come after a wave of terror attacks in Europe, including four attacks in three months in Britain.
Mr Barnier is due to sit down with Brexit Secretary David Davis for the third round of talks this week with the formal welcome scheduled later today.
He said Brexit ‘will have very practical consequences including on defence and security’ and added: ‘The British defence minister will no longer be able to sit at the council of defence ministers, London will leave the European Defence Agency and Europol [The EU-wide police force].
Europol chief Rob Wainwright today urged deeper co-operation in order to save lives
‘British defence research facilities will not be able to benefit from EU funding, London will not be able to assume command of European operations.’
Theresa May has warned failure to strike a good Brexit deal would endanger security cooperation but has insisted most security cooperation takes place outside EU bodies.
Earlier, Rob Wainwright, who heads the Europol, urged deeper co-operation in order to save lives.
He told BBC Radio Four’s Today programme: ‘We are dealing with a very diffuse community of thousands of radicalised individuals out of which anyone can become a potential terrorist at short notice.
‘And not always is anything known about them in the police records.
‘We have to therefore maximise the precious information that we have from all possible sources.’
Theresa May (pictured on Teesside last week) has warned failure to strike a good Brexit deal would endanger security cooperation but has insisted most security cooperation takes place outside EU bodies