Money, border issues to delay Brexit talks

LONDON: Prime Minister Theresa May will not be able to begin talks on a final Brexit deal until the United Kingdom has agreed how much money it will pay to leave the European Union and resolved border issues, said Maltese Premier Joseph Muscat.

The 27 remaining members of the EU were taking a three-tier approach to exit talks with Britain, said Muscat in a BBC Radio interview on Friday.

The UK would firstly have to agree to a departure payment to the bloc, before settling its EU border arrangements, especially those surrounding the boundary between the UK and the Republic of Ireland, he said.

“Only after those two areas have been resolved, that third negotiation will start — which is what type of new relationship will there be between the UK and the European Union,” said Muscat. “There will not be a situation where the UK will have a better deal than it does now — it simply cannot be.”

Malta will assume the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU next year, when Brexit talks are due to begin. Muscat’s comments shed new light on the hard-line approach being taken in European capitals ahead of formal Brexit talks, which May says she wants to begin by the end of March.

Meanwhile, Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny told Sky News that it would prove “impossible” to agree a full Brexit deal within the two-year timeframe for negotiations and so a transitional arrangement was “inevitable”.

The EU had “not yet” seen a coherent plan from the UK as there had been “different statements made by different people”, said Kenny.

Muscat’s comments echo another report from Sky News on Friday that Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, will not begin talks on the final trade deal between Britain and Brussels until “pending issues” relating to borders and budget payments are settled, and a transitional plan has been signed.

Muscat’s warnings came after two former UK prime ministers suggested the Brexit vote could be reversed.

“It can be stopped if the British people decide that, having seen what it means, the pain-gain, costbenefit analysis doesn’t stack up,” Tony Blair told the New Statesman magazine.

John Major, the Conservative premier who preceded Blair, said the country’s fate must not be dictated by the “tyranny of the majority”, said The Times on Friday.

He said there was a “perfectly credible case” for a second referendum, according to the paper. Bloomberg Brexit supporters gathering at the Old Palace Yard in London last week. Former prime minister John Major has been quoted as saying the country’s fate must not be dictated by the