The Twenty-Seven reached out to Theresa May on Thursday 13 December in Brussels to help her get the agreement on the orderly exit of the United Kingdom from the EU adopted in the British Parliament. After hearing the British leader's appeals, they clarified some points in the agreed text on 25 November (see EUROPE 12145).
But their concessions stopped there, with the Twenty-Seven hammering home that they will not reopen the content of this agreement and refusing to give in to the temporary nature of the ‘backstop’ for Ireland, one of the nodes of the blockade across the Channel.
As Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz summed it up, the discussion with Mrs May made it possible to define two things: "Do not open (the withdrawal) agreement again and, secondly, make it clear that the backstop must be temporary and in no case sustainable."
But setting a deadline for the backstop is a red line for the Twenty-Seven. "You cannot write a fixed date. What would happen if you have a fixed date and there is no new relationship? You would still have a physical border in Ireland", warned Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
In the conclusions adopted, EU leaders only agreed to specify that this safety net - which, according to proponents of a clean break with the EU, could imprison the United Kingdom indefinitely in a customs union with the EU - should only be an "insurance policy" to avoid a physical border in Ireland.
“We say that if we need insurance because we have not found enough rules during the post-Brexit transition phase, we want to quickly move beyond the backstop phase," said German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
A free trade agreement as soon as possible
The conclusion of a free trade agreement by 31 December 2020 should put in place the arrangements to ensure that this safety net is not deployed.
The Europeans have sought to reassure Mrs May that they intend to negotiate this future free trade agreement as soon as possible once the British withdrawal agreement has been signed and the United Kingdom has left the EU.
In front of the press, the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, insisted on this point. "I want to prove to the members of the House that we take this seriously," he said, before adding: "We will accelerate the procedure" which concerns the future bilateral relationship.
However, Mr Juncker pointed out that, despite Mrs May's "courageous and virtuous fight", questions remained about the intentions of the United Kingdom, which has still not said precisely what it expects from this future trade relationship. "I find it quite inconceivable that in the United Kingdom there would be this impression that it would be up to the EU to find answers," he said.
Theresa May has reportedly not fully convinced the Twenty-Seven by not giving precise indications on how to proceed, starting with the timetable for a vote in the British Parliament, initially scheduled for 11 December. Some rumours suggested that she might be considering the week of 15 January.
The Twenty-Seven have therefore reportedly chosen to reduce their offer of assistance a little. In particular, they deleted a paragraph in a first draft of the conclusions in which they said they were prepared to consider additional assurances without calling into question the withdrawal agreement.
“What Mrs May said, or more correctly did not say, probably contributed to the disappearance of this paragraph," according to another source.
In particular, Ireland and France have reportedly worked to delete this paragraph as well as other elements pointing out that the backstop would be “temporary” and did not constitute a "desired outcome”. It is now up to Mrs May to clarify her intentions if she wants to obtain further support by the time the British Parliament votes.
In the meantime, as Mr Juncker has announced, the Twenty-Seven will speed up their preparation for a no-deal Brexit. On 19 December, the Commission plans to publish a series of documents on the subject.
See the text of the conclusions: http://bit.ly/2Gj2rMv. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic, with the editorial staff)