Raab ridiculed on first trip to Brussels
British officials’ behindthe-scenes efforts to win EU support for PM’S Chequers plan are rebuffed
DOMINIC RAAB faced ridicule on his first trip to Brussels as Brexit Secretary as the EU flatly rejected Theresa May’s Chequers plan and mocked spelling errors in translations of the document.
Senior EU diplomats made it clear that the Brexit White Paper agreed at Chequers cannot form the basis for negotiations, while British sources said the EU was being “deeply unhelpful”.
Mr Raab looked nervous before his first meeting with Michel Barnier, the EU’S chief Brexit negotiator, which was overshadowed by the European Commission announcing it was stepping up preparations for a no-deal Brexit.
Even before he arrived, he faced embarrassment as it emerged that Britishprepared translations of the Brexit White Paper into the native languages of the other 27 EU member states were full of errors.
According to the Euractiv website, the Estonian and Finnish version misspelt “Estonia” and “Finland” and the French version risked outright offence by translating “principled Brexit” into “un Brexit vertueux” – which suggests that Brexit is a moral good.
The Dutch version was described in a leading newspaper as reading like something put through the “cheapest available” translation software. It also misspelt Edinburgh as “Edinburg”.
After an unproductive week of Brexit negotiations in Brussels, The Telegraph understands that UK negotiators have been told Mrs May’s White Paper setting out the UK-EU future relationship is unacceptable and still amounts to an attempt to “cherry-pick” access to the EU single market.
Regional analysts said the EU side had been clear that Mrs May’s concessions on agreeing to a “common rule book” and a measure of ECJ jurisdiction had not changed the EU’S view that the White Paper was a reheated version of an already dismissed idea.
“The informal message Michel Barnier has been passing to EU capitals is that he is ‘unimpressed’,” wrote Mujtaba Rahman, the head of Europe practice at the Eurasia Group consultancy to clients, citing EU sources with knowledge of the discussions.
British officials working in Brussels on EU legislation have been rebuffed in their behind-the-scenes efforts to win support for the White Paper.
“They are trying but have gained little traction,” one diplomat told The Telegraph. “They are simply referred to Mr Barnier’s team.”
EU diplomatic sources said the two sides remain deadlocked over the issue of the Irish border “backstop” which the EU says must be agreed in order to conclude a divorce and transition deal this autumn. “We can no longer kick the can. We need to hear from Raab how he sees backstop in the withdrawal agreement,” said a source close to the talks.
The hard line from Brussels came as it was reported that the Government will publish documents on a weekly basis to warn households and company of the dangers of leaving the EU without a deal.
Mrs May is to use major speech in Northern Ireland today to urge the EU not to fall back on “unworkable ideas”. Mrs May will say that after the publication of the White Paper, it is “now for the EU to respond”.
She will add: “Not simply to fall back on to previous positions which have already been proven unworkable. But to evolve their position in kind.”