Mr. Frans Timmermans:

I do not blame him for trying at all. However, he will appreciate that many of these questions can only be answered once we know the terms the British want.

We can only answer that once they have triggered Article 50 and laid down what they want out of this. I will try to answer some of the issues Mr. Hayes and his colleagues have raised anyway.

Perhaps we should picture this process as enlargement in reverse and look at how enlargement processes have gone in the past. That might also be how this process will develop in the next couple of years. However, that all depends on what the British want out of this. We have heard a lot of comments made in the United Kingdom, but the real judgment can only be made when we have the letter stipulating what they want.

I will speak about Ireland and its exceptional circumstances. Let me be brutally clear about this. Yes, there are exceptional circumstances. No, there cannot be bilateral negotiations. That would play exactly into the hands of the British who are trying to play off one country against the other. However, we can only convince Ireland not to have bilateral negotiations if it feels that what the European Commission is doing is in its interest and reflects what it needs and wants. That is why I feel so engaged in this. The Commission should prove to Ireland that its interests are being taken fully on board. That is the only way we can convince Ireland and, by the way, all of the other member states not to start parallel negotiations. Britain will try with every single member state to see if it can create a bilateral parallel process in the nature of diplomacy. Again, I do not blame them. They are fighting for the interests of their country like we are fighting for the interests of the 27 remaining countries. That is how this will play out. I do not think it will be in the interests of the 27. I believe that if we do our job well, it will not be in the interest of Ireland to opt for a bilateral negotiation apart from what the European Commission is doing.

On the unanimity requirements, I believe we need unanimity for the new relationship because that will have to be decided unanimously. However, at the end of the Article 50 process-----