PARIS — Britain's planned departure from the European Union — known as Brexit — will likely lead to a  "deterioration" of cooperation in defense and security with the 27 EU member states, according to Sylvie Goulard, a member of the European Parliament.

Close ties were essential to underpin the formal links between military allies, she said Monday at "The Future of Europe after Brexit" conference, organized by the European Council for Foreign Relations think tank. But the expected Brexit negotiations between London and Brussels would be more akin to an emotionally charged and divisive experience of a divorce, she told conference attendees.

"It will be pretty strange if the very difficult negotiations will not lead to an overall deterioration in mutual perception and the conditions and cooperation in security and defense," she offered.

Meanwhile, in London, the Supreme Court of 11 judges opened Monday a legal appeal on whether the British government could declare departure from the EU without parliamentary approval.

No one knows yet what the Brexit negotiations will be like, said Goulard, adding that she doubted the talks would be easy.

"This goes beyond psychology," she said. There is something like "rage" building up in the Brexit camp as they see nothing is happening, and there is also question over a break up of the UK.

Goulard said she hoped there would be good ties with Britain on its "first-rate" intelligence services, bilateral military cooperation and the seats in the United Nations Security Council.

A likely weakening in relations with Britain echoed the remarks she received in the US Congress after France rejected signing the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), she said. In response to an assurance that France still remained a NATO partner, the comment was: "So you are ready to lay down your life, but you are not ready to import chickens," she said. "There is a fundamental questioning of the closeness necessary for the functioning of a military alliance."

A strong flow of migrants into the EU, anti-terrorism and "external security" call for cooperation with neighboring nations, with countries of transit and at the European level, German Ambassador to France Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut told the conference.

Building border fences on a unilateral basis was a futile, last-minute exercise when a pan-European "upstream" cooperation was required, he said. "National control is an illusion," he said. Such attempts merely allowed the migrant trafficking agents to boost their fees.

Goulard is a candidate for the presidency of the European parliament, where she sits on the committee for economic and monetary affairs. Goulard is also a board member of the European Council on Foreign Relations.

Britain and France are partners in the 2010 Lancaster House bilateral defense treaty, which includes nuclear research and industrial cooperation.

Greater European defense cooperation was one of the key agreements reached at the EU meeting in Bratislava, Slovakia, in September, a summit called in the wake of Britain’s vote to leave. London was excluded from that meeting.

In his opening remarks, Supreme Court President David Neuberger said the case that would be heard was about the law, not politics.

Britain has said formal negotiations on leaving the EU would begin in March, under article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty. If the court were to rule in favor of the need for a parliamentary approval, that would cast grave doubt on meeting that deadline.

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