Why Europe may still have to compromise over Brexit

Analysis Leo Cendrowicz

The clatter of Conservative Party politics is so loud at the moment it is easy to forget the actual Brexit negotiations that are supposed to be taking place between Britain and the rest of the 27 European Union nations.

With Britain due to leave in less than nine months, few officials in EU capitals are pinning hopes on anything other than the most basic deal.

Brexit has become such a national neuralgia that British visitors are often astonished to learn how little it features on the radars of the rest of the EU.

European leaders are happy to leave the nitty gritty of deal-making to Michel Barnier, the EU’S Brexit negotiator. The rest of the EU has enough on its plate right now. Migration has bubbled back to the surface, driving political changes in Italy, Germany and Austria. US president Donald Trump is undermining the EU with policies on climate change and trade. Hungary and Poland are drifting towards authoritarianism.

With these priorities, EU leaders have little interest in dragging themselves into a mud fight over Brexit details .

While EU leaders will insist on the indivisibility of the single market, they would be prepared to stretch the rules if it would help bridge a gap during the transition and beyond. It would not be neat, but it would keep the economic motors going on both sides.