On Wednesday 26 September, the Committee of Permanent Representatives to the EU is due to meet up in the afternoon to continue its discussions on preparations for a no-deal scenario with United Kingdom. Some of the British media have described this meeting as an “emergency meeting” following the debacle highlighted in the media at the European Summit in Salzburg. This involved a reply the following day by Theresa May on the way she had been treated by the EU27 at the Austrian summit (see EUROPE 12101).
The Council of the EU explained that this meeting had been “planned and was not an emergency meeting at all” and the member states had been preparing for all possible options for a certain time now. Another source said that in substance nothing had changed because “the EU positions are clear and have been repeated at the ‘General Affairs Council’ and at the Salzburg summit”. Nonetheless according to The Times, this meeting would help strengthen preparations for a no-deal and a scenario involving the rejection of the draft agreement by the British Parliament.
The Times also said that the permanent representatives should therefore discuss temporary solutions for sectors such as aviation and maritime as well as medicines, which could become the subject of specific processes and arrangements in the event of a no-deal at the end of March 2019, in addition to many other sectors that could receive this kind of treatment. For the time being, negotiations have been interrupted and a round of discussions envisaged at the end of the week between Michel Barnier and Dominic Raab have not been confirmed on the agenda. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)