British, EU leaders meet
Negotiators try to pin down areas of contention so package can be rubber-stamped
British Prime Minister Theresa May told skeptical lawmakers on Wednesday that rejecting her divorce deal with the European Union would mean uncertainty and division, before a meeting with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to help finalize the Brexit agreement.
May and Juncker held lateafternoon talks in Brussels as negotiators worked to pin down agreement on issues of contention so that EU leaders can meet in Brussels on Sunday to rubberstamp the package.
The U.K. and the European Union agreed last week on a 585page document sealing the terms of Britain’s departure, but are still working to nail down agreement on future relations.
With wrangling continuing on issues including Gibraltar and fishing rights, European Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis said Wednesday that the political declaration on future relations was “not there yet.”
He said diplomats would meet Friday to prepare Sunday’s summit, and “they will need to see a final text before then.”
At home, May is under intense pressure from pro-Brexit and pro-EU British lawmakers, with large numbers on both sides of the debate opposing the divorce deal. Brexiteers think it will leave the U.K. tied too closely to EU rules, while pro-Europeans say it will erect new barriers between Britain and the bloc, its neighbour and biggest trading partner.
May fended off a barrage of criticism from both opposition and government legislators Wednesday during her weekly Commons question-and-answer session dominated by Brexit.
Opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn branded the agreement “half-baked” — and said his party could negotiate a better one — while Conservative Andrew Rosindell urged May to
ditch the plan and remove “the tentacles of the EU over our cherished island nation.”
May replied that “we want to ensure we continue to have a close trading relationship with the European union” after Brexit.
She said the alternative to the agreement was either “more uncertainty, more division or it could risk no Brexit at all.”