British leader Theresa May was on her way to Strasbourg on Monday evening, 11 March, to meet with the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, to obtain final guarantees from the European Union on the eve of a decisive vote on an orderly exit of the United Kingdom from the EU.
British Prime Minister Theresa May was supposed to make the trip to Brussels on 11 March (see EUROPE 12210/20). She also spoke by phone with Mr Juncker on Sunday evening, said Margaritis Schinas, the spokesperson for the European institution, but the Brussels travel project had been abandoned due to unsuccessful talks over the weekend.
For the Commission, it is “now up to the House of Commons to make important decisions this week” the institution's spokesperson commented on Monday.
The EU negotiator on Brexit, Michel Barnier, added: negotiations are now taking place “between the British government and MEPs”, while the weekend technical talks between European and British negotiators do not seem to have led to any significant breakthrough.
On Friday, after a meeting with the Member States' ambassadors to the EU (Coreper), Mr Barnier outlined the terms of the European offer to the British: - reaffirming that the backstop, which is intended to prevent the return of a physical border to Northern Ireland by involving the whole United Kingdom in a customs union with the EU, will be temporary if it is put in place; - the EU will act in good faith to conclude a free trade agreement with the United Kingdom in time that will prevent the realization of the backstop.
According to the Twenty-Seven, a unilateral exit by the United Kingdom from the safety net would be possible, in the absence of agreement on the future bilateral relationship and provided that the basic parameters of the safety net are respected, i.e. Northern Ireland's normative proximity to the EU.
But these proposals were not welcomed by the British negotiators, Michel Barnier also explained on Friday.
However, Ms May would have been prepared to accept this offer, according to information provided by the Commission on Monday to Member States' ambassadors, according to the British media citing diplomatic sources.
Discussions between the two parties would also have stumbled on the proposals of the British Attorney General, Geoffrey Cox, who, according to the Irish RTE, would have suggested changing the remedies for recourse to the arbitration mechanism provided for in the withdrawal agreement and, ultimately, recourse to the EU Court of Justice.
The British government has confirmed that it is maintaining the British Parliament's meaningful vote on Tuesday 12 March. There were rumours of a possible change in the nature of this vote, with the possibility of a provisional vote by Members. These rumours have been denied by the British government, but demonstrate Ms May's fragility at the beginning of a decisive week.
In the event of a second rejection of the agreement on an orderly Brexit, British MEPs will be invited to say on Wednesday whether they want their country to leave the EU without agreement or on Thursday whether they would like to extend the two-year negotiation period provided for in Article 50 of the Treaty.
Such a request, if formalised by Ms May's government, would then be considered at the Spring European Summit on Thursday 21 and Friday 22 March. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)