EU negotiators are not so patiently waiting as the British government holds another “crunch” Brexit meeting.
The talks, taking place on Friday in the prime minister’s country retreat at Chequers, are being held to finalise next week’s white paper on future customs and trade, which the UK hopes will also unlock a solution for the Irish border.
“We urgently need clarity from the UK on what they want from the future EU-UK partnership,” Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s Brexit coordinator, said in a written statement.
“It is time for Prime Minister May to finally put her country before domestic party political infighting and make a choice based on the models of cooperation that are available. The time for fudges, fantasies and attempted renegotiations is over.”
According to two senior EU officials, the bloc will reject any UK demands for partial or back-door access to the single market.
That looks like a rejection of the latest idea floated by prime minister Theresa May, a kind of “single market for goods” in which the UK would align with EU product standards but diverge on services, free movement and EU court jurisdiction.
It is being touted as a “third way” between last August’s ‘new customs partnership’, which would see the UK collect and reimburse EU tariffs, and the ‘maximum facilitation’ option, using technology to reduce border checks.
The mood in Brussels is weary as reports emerge of more internal Tory party strife back in London. According to the Daily Telegraph newspaper, Brexit minister David Davis has lashed out at the “third way” compromise, saying it will never be accepted by the EU.
“It’s good that it’s an internal discussion about what they can’t accept, so that we don’t have to do it for them,” said one senior EU diplomat in solved in the talks. “They have to know by now what we can accept and not accept.”
An EU official says the UK has repeatedly “misread EU dynamics” on both trade and a future security partnership and is in “Brexit denial” about what it can achieve.
The government’s attempt to win over individual EU countries and bypass lead negotiator Michel Barnier - who is seen as more hardline than some member states - has not gone down well, either (see other news). “If I were them, I would not speculate on such a split,” said one senior EU official.
EU negotiators will examine the white paper over the next two weeks, and hope to restart talks with the UK by mid-July. (Sarah Collins)