Brexit negotiations off to a rocky start

British prime minister’s opening gambit in Brussels did not go down well with the EU leaders. As the Brexit talks got under way on June 21, May’s offer on the status of EU citizens seemed to have riled Europe. T he Guardian was scathing in its assessment of the talks. Brexit is wrong then, wrong now, wrong in the future, the paper said in an editorial. Twelve months after the EU referendum, Theresa May’s latest Brussels trip reveals that the EU is leaving Britain behind, not the other way round, it said.

‘Everything about her performance in Brussels over the last two days has underlined both the larger national tragedy of Britain’s decision to leave the EU and the deepening personal failure of May’s attempts to deliver it,” the paper said.

“May went to Brussels summit promising a ‘fair and serious’ offer on the rights of EU citizens in the UK, and of UK citizens in the EU, after Brexit. She met a humiliating response. The EU-27 told her these were not matters for a summit but for the negotiations… There is an overwhelming need, and perhaps a burgeoning consensus, for Britain to change its Brexit priorities. We need a closer and more engaged relationship with the EU than the one May has pursued so ineffectually.” The Independent said May’s proposals for the future of EU citizens in Britain are too little, too late and the prime minister should realise that different elements of the Brexit negotiations require different tactics — instead, her inflexible approach is creating hostility among EU leaders.

“The most obvious problem with taking a harsh approach when it comes to negotiating the rights of EU citizens is that the prime minister is dealing in people, not numbers. On the other issue which must be dealt with at an early stage — the Brexit “divorce bill” — a tough stance makes more intrinsic sense, even putting to one side the government’s present fragility. When it comes to money, haggling is a legitimate exercise. May, her ministers and her advisers need to recognise that different elements of the negotiation require different tactics,” it added. said May’s rights offer falls flat on its face and the main source of the EU’s displeasure was the nature of the offer on the status of EU citizens in the UK. “The EU does not want its citizens left in the UK at the mercy of the Home Office. It argues that they need to be protected by impartial judicial oversight. And since these are EU rights, that should come from the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. For London, being under the control of a foreign court is an unacceptable infringement of sovereignty — and besides, its judicial system is respected around the world,” the American political journal said. “Everything else can be negotiated. But unless there is movement on this question — from both sides — Brexit is going to fall at the first hurdle,” it added.

The Financial Times said May’s proposals are a good start and the coming days will reveal whether the UK government has the administrative capacity to deal with it.

In an editorial the paper said: “The motivation for both sides in the Brexit talks should be goodwill and compassion. This is particularly important on EU citizens’ rights, as too much uncertainty has already been created over the past year…It is also only the first of three topics (the others being the Irish border and the financial settlement) that the UK and the EU must make progress on this summer, before the focus can turn to the future relationship.”