Brexit deadlock
EU negotiator: Discussion on separation terms has ground to a halt
No significant progress in talks with Britain, says EU negotiator.
brUSSeLS: Brexit talks have made little progress, the European Union’s negotiator said, meaning he cannot yet recommend broadening the negotiations beyond the focus on the terms of Britain’s exit to include key issues such as future trade relations.
Michel Barnier said that despite the “constructive spirit” shown in this week’s fifth round of talks yesterday, “we haven’t made any great steps forward”.
On the question of how much Britain has to pay to settle its financial commitments, he said: “We have reached a state of deadlock, which is disturbing.”
Barnier said he would not be able to recommend to EU leaders meeting next week that “sufficient progress” has been made to broaden the talks to future EUBritish relations, including trade.
The leaders meet in Brussels on Oct 1920, and with time short to seal a deal it had been hoped they would agree to widen the talks.
The EU says this can only happen when there has been progress on the issues of the financial settlement, the rights of citizens affected by Brexit and the status of the Northern IrelandIreland border.
But Britain says these issues are closely intertwined with their future relations like trade and must be discussed together.
“I hope member states will see the progress we have made and take a step forward” next week, British Brexit envoy David Davis said.
“We would like them to give Michel the means to broaden the negotiations. It’s up to them whether they do it. Clearly I think it’s in the interests of the United Kingdom and the European Union that they do,” Davis said.
Barnier said the two sides would work to achieve “sufficient progress” in time for a subsequent meeting of EU leaders in December.
Britain must leave the EU on March 29, 2019, but the negotiations must be completed within about a year to leave time for EU states’ national parliaments to ratify the Brexit agreement.
Many businesses are worried that Britain could leave the EU without a trade deal in place, which would mean tariffs on UK goods entering, reams of red tape and chaos at ports.
The pound fell yesterday on news of the slow progress.
European estimates on the size of the divorce bill have varied from
€ € around 60bil to 100bil (RM300bil to RM500bil), but Prime Minister Theresa May’s government has rejected such numbers without clearly explaining how the amount should be calculated. — AP