Another week, another Brexit speech, and another round of inconclusive “technical” talks.
Both sides have stopped counting how many negotiating “rounds” have now taken place. But they are also looking to a new round next week as a make or break moment, at least for the post-Brexit transition period.
British prime minister Theresa May said on Friday that the two sides are “close to agreement on the terms” for transition, or the “implementation” phase, as the UK calls it (see other news). But EU lead negotiator Michel Barnier said this week that there are still major differences to resolve - particularly on citizens’ rights and UK power to vet EU laws - and that a deal was not a “given”.
The round of talks, which is expected to last all week, will also cover Northern Ireland and other separation issues such as data sharing, goods in transit on Brexit day, Euratom and intellectual property rights.
Next week is also the moment for European Council president Donald Tusk to table his draft guidelines on the future relationship, which he warned this week would take account of the UK’s “red lines”, adding that “friction is an inevitable side effect of Brexit”.
EU lead negotiator Michel Barnier said the UK has “shut the door on itself” by choosing to leave the single market and customs union, with the only option left being a standard free trade agreement (FTA), styled on existing deals with Canada, Japan or South Korea.
Anyone hoping for the UK to reopen the door for itself will have been disappointed on Friday, when prime minister Theresa May gave her third major Brexit speech.
She repeated her pledge to leave the single market and customs union, and rejected the EU’s FTA offer, saying a Canada-style deal would “mean a significant reduction in our access to each other’s markets”.
She also seemed to revert to a position paper her government originally published last August, where she proposed two options: separate customs systems for goods bound for domestic and EU markets, or a “trusted trader” system where both sides would waive requirements for goods moving between the UK and EU.
She did, however, admit the need to face up to “hard facts”: that the UK would not get everything it wants, and that EU law would still have an effect in the country after Brexit.
Barnier said the recognition of these trade-offs would inform the bloc’s guidelines on the future relationship.
Parliament’s Brexit coordinator, Guy Verhofstadt, was less enthusiastic, warning May that she needed to “move beyond vague aspirations” and that the “deep and special partnership” she says she wants “cannot be achieved by putting a few extra cherries on the Brexit cake”. (Sarah Collins)