German government distances itself from Seehofer’s Brexit letter

Diplomat assures European Commission that interior minister’s views do not reflect those of Berlin.

The German government has distanced itself from Interior Minister Horst Seehofer’s call for “unrestricted cooperation” with post-Brexit Britain on security matters, telling Brussels that his remarks do not reflect Berlin’s official position.

In an unusual step for a national minister, Seehofer wrote to the Commission just before the European Council summit at the end of last month, warning that the EU’s approach to the U.K. on security issues could put lives at risk, the Financial Times first reported.

But in an equally unusual move, Germany’s Permanent Representation to the EU in Brussels wrote to the Commission afterward, clarifying that Seehofer’s remarks reflect his personal views, not the official government stance in Berlin, according to a letter dated last Friday, seen by POLITICO Brussels Playbook.

“I would like to make it clear that [Seehofer’s] is not a letter agreed in the federal government,” wrote senior diplomat Thomas Eckert — who currently represents Germany during meetings of EU ambassadors — to a staff member of European Commissioner for Home Affairs Dimitris Avramopoulos’ team.

“Parts of the letter are in contradiction with the guidelines of March 2018, issued by the European Council in its Article 50 format, and with the position in this regard agreed by the federal government,” Eckert added.

“Insofar I clarify that the federal government of course sticks to the content of those guidelines and its position previously taken.”

Seehofer’s letter came amid a heated spat with Angela Merkel over migration that threatened their coalition government’s stability, in which he pushed for stricter, more nationally focused border policies over the chancellor’s desire for an EU-wide approach. The row put pressure on Merkel to try to broker migration deals with other EU leaders at last month’s summit.

His letter on Brexit expressing a view divergent from the guidelines adopted in March, as the Eckert letter states, prompted Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to say on Friday in response that “we have a mandate from the European Council that we are going to respect.”

A Commission spokesperson also said “there’s only one Brexit negotiation and only one Brexit negotiator. That’s Michel Barnier.”

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