On Monday 12 June, the negotiating team of Michel Barnier, the EU's negotiator for Brexit, met the senior adviser to the British Prime Minister on Brexit, Oliver Robbins and the Permanent Representative of the UK to the EU, Tim Barrow, the European Commission has announced.
This meeting, held four days after elections that went badly for the head of the British government, Theresa May (see EUROPE 11805), is expected to be mainly technical in nature and also touch upon the negotiating timetable. The EU still plans to start talks as soon as possible – Barnier has regularly mooted the date of 19 June – and the European side was to take the temperature of their British counterparts.
Although the Minister for Brexit, David Davis, reiterated London's preference to start on that date, a source said that no formal notification has been sent to the Commission, which is therefore awaiting official confirmation from the British government. According to the staff of Michel Barnier, no date has been given for the start of negotiations as of Monday.
At Monday's meeting, members of Barnier's team were also to hand over to the British emissaries the final negotiation documents published by the Commission on 12 June, particularly those on citizens' rights and the financial parameters of withdrawal. A third document, on the question of Northern Ireland, is being prepared, but the Commission has not yet put forward a publication date.
In both documents, the Commission reiterates the EU's position, which has not changed, even after the elections, the source went on to explain, namely the scope of persons to be covered and of rights to be enforced. Financially, it explains the methodology used to calculate the sum to be charged to London at the time of its withdrawal. Both texts confirm the draft documents published by the Commission on 29 May.
The Commission has, however, declined to take position on new working hypotheses after several media sources, including Bloomberg, reported on Sunday 11 June that London may be looking for a softer Brexit and may even seek to stay in the single market or customs union. On Monday, the Commission stressed that the position of the EU 27 had not changed from the pre-election situation, in other words in the context of a future relationship to be based on a free-trade agreement.
Bloomberg also reported that May had spoken to the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, on Saturday 10 June and assured her that negotiations would start within two weeks and would focus on a mutual agreement on European citizens in the UK and British citizens living in the EU.
On Monday lunchtime, a European Commission spokesperson, Alexander Winterstein, said that he was reasonably confident that these talks would be able to start soon, possibly even this week. To consult the two position papers please see http://bit.ly/2raSuVv (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)