EU, UK see need to overcome bottlenecks
As planned, the United Kingdom and the European Union should have achieved “sufficient progress” on all issues in Brexit negotiations by October, and now they are already in one-year talking on their future relations after the UK leaves the bloc on March 29, 2019.
The deadline, however, was missed.
This is mainly because the EU was not satisfied with the UK’s offer on how to settle its financial commitment to fund smooth operations of EU projects by 2020 and solutions to cope with border issue between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
It seemed that the leaders of both sides have realized the
Briefly
urgency to remove the bottlenecks. European Council President Donald Tusk met British Prime Minister Theresa May twice within one week, sending the message that EU leaders are ready to endorse to enter into the new phase of talks with UK when the leaders meet in the mid of December, once “sufficient progress is seen from UK side.”
“Sufficient progress in Brexit talks in December is possible. But still a huge challenge,” Tusk said after meeting May last Friday. “We need to see progress from UK within 10 days on all issues, including on Ireland.”
May is scheduled to meet European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and the bloc’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier on Dec 4 in Brussels. Barnier has promised that both sides can even talk about “ambitious free trade” deals on the next phase once an “orderly withdrawal” agreement is achieved.
Tusk said previously that EU needs to see much more progress on Ireland and on a financial settlement while commenting that good progress on citizens’ rights is being made.
‘Physical infrastructure’
The EU wants to avoid “physical infrastructure” between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland borders, but both sides so far have not come to terms on how to achieve it after the UK leaves the European single market in March 2019.
“If there is no sufficient progress by then, I will not be in a position to propose new guidelines on transition and the future relationship at the December European Council,” said Tusk.
It is likely the UK, which contributes about 12-13 percent of the EU’s budget, could make more compromises next Monday to maintain closer trade relations with the EU.
The UK’s Financial Times cited May as saying that Britain “will honor commitments we have made during the period of our membership” and her team are working on different scenarios that would see her considerably increase the 20 billion euros she has already put on the table.
Judging from the previous outcomes, Andrew Duff, visiting fellow at the European Policy Centre in Brussels, said the EU is much better prepared to leave the UK than the other way around.