Merkel threatens to pull the plug as talks go to the wire
THERESA May faces a further round of talks with EU chief JeanClaude Juncker after the Brexit negotiations ran into fresh difficulties last night.
The Prime Minister says a string of issues need to be resolved before a summit on Sunday to sign the departure deal.
She spent around two hours with the European Commission President in Brussels yesterday to try to finalise details of a draft declaration but will return for more talks on Saturday in a desperate dash to reach a conclusion.
She said last night: “We’ve had a very good meeting this evening, we’ve made further progress and we’ve given sufficient direction to our negotiators.
“I hope that we will be able to resolve the remaining issues and that work will start immediately.”
A Commission spokesman said: “Very good progress was made... work is continuing.”
Several EU governments have objected to Britain’s desire to regain full control of its fishing waters while Spain has attempted to raise questions about the future status of Gibraltar.
And in a dramatic intervention yesterday, Angela Merkel threatened to pull the plug on the summit unless the wrangling is resolved swiftly.
In a sign of growing European tensions, the German Chancellor indicated that she was not prepared to travel to Brussels for the special EU Council unless the deal was agreed in advance.
German government sources suggested Mrs Merkel wanted the deal wrapped up by today to ensure the summit was simply a rubber-stamping exercise.
Diplomats fear the absence of the EU’s chief powerbroker would lead to the cancellation of the summit and a fresh crisis.
But her intervention was being seen by Mrs May’s officials as a bid to bounce the UK into accepting the EU’s offer of a deal without any further concessions.
The Prime Minister’s spokesman was last night confident the summit would go ahead. “A summit has been called and an agenda has been published and we look forward to attending,” he said.
Another government source signalled that the deadline demand from Germany was not being treated seriously.
“Different people want to have different deadlines. Deadlines have come and gone. What is important is getting the right deal,” the source said.
Mrs Merkel’s threat was understood to reflect concerns among EU diplomats that a series of lastminute objections could trigger a round of lengthy horse-trading in Brussels on Sunday.