EU, Britain agree to keep talking
Compromise still elusive as date for Brexit nears
BRUSSELS — Britain and the European Union refused to budge an inch Thursday toward any compromiseoverbrexit,butatleasttheyare on speaking terms again about their impending divorce.
They agreed to further negotiations in the next few weeks, although that means any deal will come close to the deadline of March 29. That risks a chaotic departure for Britain that could be costly to both sides.
“A no-deal is for us not an option. It is a disaster on both sides of the Channel,” said Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s chief Brexit official.
Looking at the deadline, British Prime Minister Theresa May said after talks at EU headquarters in Brussels, “It’s not going to be easy.”
But she vowed: “I am going to deliver Brexit. I am going to deliver it on time.”
May was able to clear the air after EU Council President Donald Tusk exacerbated the frosty climate Wednesday by wondering aloud what “special place in hell” might be reserved for those who backed Brexit with no idea of howtodeliverit.
May said she had “raised with President Tusk the language that he used,” saying his words “caused widespread dismay” in Britain.
At the end, May and EU Commission President Jean-claude Juncker agreed on a renewed effort to hold more talks on a breakthrough.
The two leaders agreed to assess progress “before the end of February to take stock of these discussions,” a statement said. Two years ago,
May set Brexit day as March 29, and original plans were to have a deal in place six months ahead of time.
Both sides still disagree on whether the divorce agreement struck between May’s government and the EU — and then rejected by Britain’s Parliament — can be changed to ease British objections.
“The EU27 will not reopen the Withdrawal Agreement, which represents a carefully balanced compromise between the European Union and the U.K., in which both sides have made significant concessions,” the statement said.
U.K. officials said May’s primary concern was not to be “trapped” in a system that could see Britain linked to the EU in a customs union for an indefinite time and not be able to set itsowntradeagenda.
Britain’s Parliament voted down May’s Brexit deal last month because of concerns about a provision for the border between the U.K.’S Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland.
The mechanism would keep the U.K. in a customs union with the EU to remove the need for checks along the Irish border until a new trading relationship is in place.
Thursday’sstatementsaidthat
May “raised various options for dealing with these concerns in the context of the withdrawal agreement.”