A12 Y THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONALSATURDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2020 K
LONDON — Brexit negotia-
tions with the European Union
teetered on a precipice yet again
Friday, after Prime Minister Boris
Johnson declared that his govern-
ment was fed up and ready for a
no-deal exit from the bloc’s trad-
ing system, and with his chief ne-
gotiator calling off talks scheduled
for next week in London.
European leaders reacted
coolly to Mr. Johnson’s threat,
making clear that they were ready
to keep talking and acknowledg-
ing that both sides needed to give
ground to reach a trade agree-
ment by the deadline of Dec. 31.
Mr. Johnson, who had set a self-
imposed deadline of this week to
judge whether the talks should go
on, delivered his warning after a
summit meeting of European Un-
ion leaders in Brussels that re-
sulted in what the prime minister
called an unreasonable demand
that Britain make the major con-
cessions.
“They want the continued abil-
ity to control our legislative free-
dom, our fisheries, in a way that is
obviously unacceptable to an in-
dependent country,” Mr. Johnson
said in a taped statement from
Downing Street. “With high
hearts and complete confidence,
we will prepare to embrace the al-
ternative.”
For all his bluster, history sug-
gested that the negotiations were
less likely to collapse than to enter
a climactic final act, promising
even more of the theatrics and
brinkmanship that have charac-
terized the Brexit drama from the
start.
There are genuine gaps be-
tween Britain and the European
Union: The two are at odds over
quotas for fishing — an issue that
is highly sensitive politically in
neighboring France. And the two
sides have yet to agree on rules
governing state aid to industry or
a way to resolve disputes over this
funding.
The calendar poses another
risk: With the deadline for a deal
fast approaching, even the loss of
a week or more of talks could
make it difficult for the two sides
to reach a settlement in time. If
they fall short, Britain would have
to start trading with the bloc un-
der what Mr. Johnson euphemis-
tically calls Australia-style rules
— in other words, under the de-
fault terms set by the World Trade
Organization.
“We will prosper mightily as an
independent free-trading nation,
controlling our own borders, our
fisheries, and setting our own
laws,” he said.
In fact, analysts said, Britain
would face severe disruptions, in-
cluding long lines of trucks at the
English Channel, and a heavy
blow to its economic growth, on
top of the already painful disloca-
tion caused by the coronavirus
pandemic. Britain’s battle to con-
tain the latest wave of infections
has all but eclipsed the latest
Brexit news.
Given those daunting realities,
analysts said they still believed
that Mr. Johnson was bluffing andwould end up striking a deal. The
likelihood that Britain will have to
compromise, they said, made it all
the more important for the prime
minister to look like he is driving a
hard bargain with the European
Union.
Sam Lowe, a senior research
fellow at the Center for European
Reform, a research institute, de-
scribed the prime minister’s state-
ment as “high-stakes theatrics”
and said he still believed that a
deal was more likely than not be-
cause both sides had recently
shifted on some of their red lines.
“These sorts of performances
are part and parcel of the negotia-
tions,” he said. “We are at a crunch
point where the difficult political
compromises need to be made,
but where there is also a need to
appear tough for domestic audi-
ences.”
Mr. Johnson’s move was a “con-trolled explosion,” said Mujtaba
Rahman, an analyst at the politi-
cal risk consultancy Eurasia
Group. But it masked potential
openings for compromise, partic-
ularly with France on fishing
rights.
Downing Street argued that the
European Union had effectively
ended the talks by adopting for-
mal conclusions from its summit
that called on Britain to make
compromises and made no men-
tion of an intensification of talks.
British officials said there was
no point in more negotiations next
Monday unless the European Un-
ion was ready to discuss legal
texts in an accelerated way with-
out Britain being required to make
all the moves.
Without such conditions, offi-
cials said, the only matter worth
discussing would be practical
preparations for a no-deal exit, in-cluding how to handle issues such
as aviation, road haulage and nu-
clear cooperation.
European leaders, however,
seemed to meet some of the condi-
tions demanded by Britain, most
notably when the German chan-
cellor, Angela Merkel, acknowl-
edged that there needed to be give
and take on both sides.
“We have asked the United
Kingdom to remain open to com-
promise, so that an agreement can
be reached,” Ms. Merkel said on
Thursday. “This of course means
that we, too, will need to make
compromises.”
On Friday, the European Com-
mission president, Ursula von der
Leyen, promised to “intensify”
talks — as Britain has requested
— and said her negotiating team
would travel to London next week.
Later in the day, Downing
Street said that Mr. Johnson’s ne-
gotiator, David Frost, told the Eu-
ropeans that it made no sense for
them to come, but added that he
and his interlocutor, Michel
Barnier, will still speak next week
— suggesting that lines of commu-
nication remain open even if there
will be no formal negotiations.
Mr. Barnier’s spokesman gave a
different account of the conversa-
tion, saying that the two men
agreed to talk again on Monday
“to discuss the structure of these
talks.”
Financial markets took the lat-
est drama in stride — mindful,
perhaps, that as long ago as Feb-
ruary, Mr. Johnson threatened towalk away from the negotiations
within four months if things did
not go his way.
“Some saber rattling is part and
parcel of any international trade
negotiation,” wrote Kallum Pick-
ering, senior economist with
Berenberg Bank in London. “In
our view, Johnson’s message
seems to be more of a negotiating
tactic in the hope of clinching a
deal rather than a genuine desire
to end ongoing talks immedi-
ately.”
British businesses were less re-
laxed, however, warning of huge
price increases for consumers be-
cause of tariffs and border delays
and disruptions.
“The prime minister’s state-
ment signals that we are heading
into very dangerous territory,”
said Ian Wright, chief executive of
the Food and Drink Federation, a
British industry association, in a
statement. “In the event of a no-
deal Brexit, shoppers will — lit-
erally — pay a heavy price.”
Allie Renison, a senior policy
adviser at the Institute of Direc-
tors, which represents Britain’s
business leaders, said that “get-
ting ready for no deal in the mid-
dle of a pandemic will be a hercu-
lean task for many businesses.”Brexit Discord Brings ‘Controlled Explosion’ From Johnson
Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain, left, has threatened to
cancel negotiations with the E.U. before, but talks continue.
Among other things, the parties are at odds over fishing quotas.ANDREW TESTA FOR THE NEW YORK TIMESPOOL PHOTO BY EDDIE MULHOLLANDA show of toughness
before settling down
to real compromises.
By MARK LANDLER
and STEPHEN CASTLEA prominent lawyer and out-
spoken critic of Poland’s govern-
ment was detained on accusations
of money laundering on Thursday,
and was later taken to the hospital
after a fall, in circumstances that
remain unclear.
The lawyer, Roman Giertych,
who has been involved in a series
of high-profile cases against mem-
bers of the governing Law and
Justice party, was placed in hand-
cuffs by a special anticorruption
unit outside a Warsaw court. He
has also represented prominent
opposition figures, including Don-
ald Tusk, the former president of
the European Council.
Later, during a search of his
home, Mr. Giertych fell uncon-
scious on his bathroom floor and
was rushed to the hospital. Fur-
ther details about the incident
were not immediately available
from the authorities, but his
daughter, Maria Giertych, said he
had scuffled with an officer.
Mr. Giertych’s detention comes
on the heels of one of the closest
presidential elections in Poland
since the nation ended communist
rule in 1989, with the ruling party
winning a narrow victory. And in
the bitterly divided country, the
opposition was quick to argue that
the detention was evidence that
the ruling party was using the
country’s legal system to achieve
political aims.
The authorities denied accusa-
tions that the detention was politi-
cally motivated.
The ruling party “made it fash-
ionable to make a show out of
putting handcuffs on innocent
people,” Radek Sikorski, an oppo-
sition lawmaker, told TVN24, a
Polish television station.
Mr. Sikorski said the detention
was designed to distract the pub-
lic as anger builds over the gov-ernment’s handling of the pan-
demic and to intimidate both law-
yers and judges.
Late Thursday, Stanislaw
Zaryn, a spokesman for the au-
thorities, said Mr. Giertych was in
“good condition” and undergoing
medical examinations. But Jacek
Dubois, a lawyer who has worked
with Mr. Giertych, said he had
been told by the family Mr. Gierty-
ch’s condition was “very serious.”
A government spokesman, Pi-
otr Müller, said he was unfamiliar
with the case’s details, but added,
“I understand the anticorruption
services had grounds for deten-
tion.”
Mr. Giertych was expected to be
charged with “appropriating com-
pany funds and inflicting upon itfinancial losses of great propor-
tions, as well as of money launder-
ing,” said Anna Marszalek, a
spokeswoman for the prosecu-
tor’s office.
The Polish Bar Council ex-
pressed its “greatest concern”
over the detention.
“Regardless of the grounds for
the detention of Roman Giertych
and for searching his house, these
actions are exceptional because of
his professional involvement in
cases in which politicians of the
ruling party are involved,” the
head of the council said.
In recent years Mr. Giertych
has become one of the most vocal
critics of the government in Po-
land, taking special aim at judicial
changes pushed through by Lawand Justice and its leader, Jaro-
slaw Kaczynski.
After coming to power in 2015,
the government took control of a
tribunal responsible for upholding
the Constitution and gave author-
ity over the country’s prosecutors
to the Justice Ministry. It also as-serted new powers to select
judges and tried to purge the Su-
preme Court.
The actions have been con-
demned by international observ-
ers and have been at the heart of
tensions between Poland and the
European Union, which views the
changes as a threat to the rule of
law and the bloc’s democratic val-
ues.
Mr. Kaczynski, who has also
been trying to quell a rebellion in
his governing coalition as he faces
growing public anger over the
government’s handling of the co-
ronavirus, took a post this month
as deputy prime minister. The po-
sition gives him authority over the
nation’s security apparatus, and
some observers fear that he is us-
ing that power to target critics.
Few critics of the government
have been more vocal than Mr.
Giertych. Most recently he ac-
cused it of mismanaging the pan-
demic, writing on Twitter that
there was “blood on their hands.”
Adam Bodnar, Poland’s official
ombudsman, said the manner of
the arrest raised the “highest con-
cerns and demanded explana-
tions.” He declined to comment on
the merits of the case, but said he
wanted to know “what circum-
stances justify this kind of course
of action.”
Mr. Giertych’s wife, Barbara,
who is also a lawyer, said she had
been given little information
about her husband’s detention.
“For the first time in my life, in
my professional career, I’m expe-
riencing a situation where I don’t
know what is the context of the de-
tention,” she told TVN 24, a local
media outlet.Detention of a Government Critic in Poland Raises Fears of a Crackdown
By MONIKA PRONCZUK
and MARC SANTORARoman Giertych, a critic of Poland’s government, was hospitalized
in circumstances that remain unclear. Above, Poland’s Parliament.AGENCJA GAZETA/VIA REUTERSAnatol Magdziarz contributed re-
porting.A lawyer involved
in cases against the
governing party.
BEATA ZAWRZEL/NURPHOTO, VIA GETTY IMAGESPARIS — A retired French sur-
geon has been charged with the
rape and sexual assault of more
than 300 people, a vast majority of
whom were under 15, in what
could be France’s biggest-ever
pedophilia and sexual abuse case.
Joël Le Scouarnec, 70, a special-
ist in abdominal surgery, is ac-
cused of having abused 312 people
over three decades at several hos-
pitals in central and western
France. The authorities said de-
tails about the identities of the vic-
tims, whose average age was 11,
were included in private diaries
kept by Mr. Le Scouarnec, where
he described at length the sexual
abuses he is accused of perpetrat-
ing. Fewer than 50 were adults.
“It is an unusual case to say the
least, correctly described as ex-
traordinary, both because of the
number of its victims and the con-
ditions that led to the exposure of
the crimes,” Stéphane Kellen-
berger, the state prosecutor in
charge of the case, told reporters
on Thursday.
Mr. Le Scouarnec had already
been charged with sexual abuse of
minors in 2017, a case that led au-
thorities to discover the diaries.
The public prosecutor’s office
had initially identified 343 poten-
tial victims but eventually dis-
missed 31 cases because the stat-
ute of limitations had lapsed or for
lack of evidence. Among the re-
maining 312 people, all thought to
have been abused between 1986
and 2014, about 100 were most
likely raped and about 200 sexu-
ally assaulted, Mr. Kellenberg
said.
French laws prohibit sex be-
tween an adult and a minor under
the age of 15, but it is not automati-
cally considered rape. Further cir-
cumstances, such as the use of co-
ercion, threats, or violence, are
necessary to characterize such
sexual relationships as rape.
France recently toughened
laws against sex crimes and ex-
tended the statute of limitations
for rape against a minor to 30
years from 20 years.
“We are faced with the pedo-
philia case of the century, because
of the personality of the perpetra-
tor and because of the facts,” said
Francesca Satta, a lawyer repre-
senting about 20 accusers.
Mr. Le Scouarnec was first ar-
rested in 2017 after a 6-year-old
girl living in his neighborhood re-
ported him to her parents. Mr. Le
Scouarnec allegedly showed her
his penis and digitally penetrated
her, said Ms. Satta, who is also the
girl’s lawyer.
That led to an investigation on
sexual abuses committed against
four underage girls between 1989
and 2017, including the 6-year-old
girl and two members of Mr. Le
Scouarnec’s own family, resulting
in charges of rape, sexual assault
and exhibitionism. Mr. Le
Scouarnec is in prison awaiting
trial in the case, scheduled for late
next month.
What investigators did not an-
ticipate, however, was that a
search of Mr. Le Scouarnec’s
home as part of this first investi-
gation revealed much more than
expected. Along with three-foot-
tall toy dolls, mannequin wigs and
child pornography images, police
officers said they found secret dia-
ries recounting in great detail Mr.
Le Scouarnec’s sexual encounters
with scores of children at hospi-
tals where he practiced between
1989 and 2017.
Mr. Kellenberg, the state pros-
ecutor, said Thursday investiga-
tors carried out “the most exhaus-
tive and methodical analysis pos-
sible of these elements,” which
took “the form of an unbearable
enumeration.” The diaries includ-
ed “some paragraphs, elaborate
and detailed, rich in details that
are difficult to bear.”
The children were, most of the
time, abused in a hospital, while
under anesthetic substances, se-
dation and other medical treat-
ments, Mr. Kellenberg said.
Mr. Le Scouarnec’s diaries in-
cluded dates and details about the
identities of the children, officials
said, allowing the police to obtain
their testimony, leading to the in-
dictment Thursday.
Thibaut Kurzawa, Mr. Le
Scouarnec’s lawyer, denounced
what he called a “show pro-
cedure,” saying his client’s rights
of defense had been violated and
his safety endangered. But he de-
clined to comment on the charges.
Mr. Le Scouarnec had already
been given a four-month sus-
pended jail sentence in 2005 for
possessing child pornography.
But the sentence did not prevent
him from practicing medicine.
“This is a major institutional
dysfunction,” said Pierre Ver-
drager, a sociologist who has stud-
ied pedophilia. He said medical
and judicial authorities bore re-
sponsibility. He added that Mr. Le
Scouarnec was part of an elite that
might have shielded him from re-
taliation.
Mr. Kellenberger announced an
investigation had been started to
determine if other people had
been aware of Mr. Le Scouarnec’s
actions and failed to report them.
French Doctor
Is Charged
In Hundreds
Of Assaults
By CONSTANT MÉHEUT