EU leaders back May with move on Brexit talks
BRUSSELS: EU leaders threw British Prime Minister Theresa May a lifeline in Brexit talks on Friday (Saturday in Manila), agreeing at a Brussels summit meeting to start preparations for the next stage of negotiations.
EU President Donald Tusk said reports the talks were in deadlock were “exaggerated,” hailing a speech May made in Florence, Italy, last month for breaking the impasse.
As expected, the other 27 leaders agreed there had been insufficient progress on the divorce talks to officially move on to the future relationship, delaying the decision to a December summit.
But they took just 90 seconds to approve the start of internal preparations for post-Brexit trade and a transition deal, work that Tusk said would take Britain’s proposals on future relations into account.
“My impression is that reports of the deadlock between the European Union and the UK have been exaggerated, and while progress has not been sufficient, it does not mean there is no progress at all,” Tusk said.
European leaders struck a broadly supportive tone for May, who has struggled to contain divisions in her government since losing her parliamentary majority in a June election, and appealed to her colleagues over dinner Thursday to help her make headway in the Brexit talks. A European diplomatic source said: “May asked for a sign, we have given a sign.”
Macron’s money warning
But May faced an immediate warning from French President Emmanuel Macron that agreement on the financial settlement—the biggest sticking point in the talks—was still “a long way off.”
“There is major work to be done on the United Kingdom’s side,” Macron said, adding: “Today we are not even halfway down the road.”
In Florence, May promised to maintain Britain’s contributions for two years after Brexit to complete the current EU budget period, totaling around 20 billion euros ($ 24 billion), but EU officials say it should be at least double that.
European capitals are demanding detailed written commitments on finance before consenting to the start of trade talks, fearing that Britain’s departure in 2019 will blow a hole in the bloc’s budget.
Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel warned: “We are not going to delay the bill indefinitely.”
But May insisted that a detailed accord on the financial settlement must wait until there is a “final agreement” on a future partnership.
Despite that the mood of the talks was positive, particularly with the step forward on trade talks.
The slow progress of the negotiations has stoked fears that Britain could leave the EU in March 2019 without a deal in place, risking economic and legal chaos.
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said that during Friday morning’s Brexit talks, held without May, “the conversation at the table was about what the mandate would be for the negotiations” in the trade phase.
Starting preparations on guidelines for the trade talks now would save time if and when the political decision was taken to move forward in December, with talks possibly starting in January, EU sources said.
And a French presidency source said “scoping work has already broadly started,” referring to preparations on the broad areas a deal might cover.
Like Tusk, German Chancellor Angela Merkel struck an optimistic note, saying after Thursday’s dinner that she could see “zero indications that we will not succeed” in reaching a Brexit deal.
As well as the financial settlement, the EU wants progress on the rights of three million European citizens living in Britain and the issue of the Irish border.
May said the deal on citizens’ rights was within “touching distance”, and pressed her colleagues over a dinner on Thursday for “urgent” progress.