On Tuesday 31 October, EU and United Kingdom negotiators agreed to resume talks on the UK’s exit from the EU on 9 and 10 November.
The new round of talks should allow progress to be made ahead of the European Summit on 14 and 15 December, which is expected to endorse sufficient progress on citizens’ rights, the Irish question and finance to move on to the second phase of negotiations on the future partnership.
In Bratislava on Tuesday 31 October, the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, said that the EU had proposed three extra negotiating dates: In the next few hours or days, they would work with the UK delegation to find the right dates because they would be working very intensely to find agreement by December, added Michel Barnier.
A press release from the British Brexit department says the new round of talks, which David Davis said a while back would take place between 8 and 10 November, should provide an opportunity to look at progress since the European Summit of 19 and 29 October. At the summit, the EU27 agreed to start preparatory work for the second phase of negotiations but said London had not yet provided sufficient guarantees on finance (see EUROPE 18888).
The British government called upon to publish impact assessments
In London, the government is coming under increasing pressure from the opposition to publish economic impact assessments on Brexit. On Wednesday 1 November, the British government was forced after a motion tabled by the opposition Labour Party to publish its assessment of 58 sectors, including tourism and nuclear issues. The Brexit department in London had refused to do so on the grounds that this would damage its negotiating position. The motion was passed without opposition from the Conservatives and should be responded to within the next few days, in theory, as requested by the House of Commons’ Speaker, John Bercow.
On Thursday morning, deputy Brexit minister Robin Walker said that talks had begun on the next stages, indicating that the government was preparing to agree to the MPs’ request.
Walker told MPs that they were taking Parliament’s motion very seriously and the secretary of state had already spoken to the Select Committee on Brexit and would be discussing the matter with him later at the right time, reports The Guardian. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)