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EU gives UK two-week deadline on Brexit divorce bill EU gives UK two-week deadline on Brexit divorce bill
(about 3 hours later)
The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, has set the British government a deadline of two weeks to give “vital” clarification on the financial commitments it is willing to honour. The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, has set the British government a deadline of two weeks to give “vital” clarification on the financial commitments it is willing to honour, at the end of a sixth round of Brexit talks that offered scant evidence of any progress.
Asked at the end of a truncated sixth round of Brexit talks whether Britain needed to offer answers on its financial settlement within a fortnight, Barnier told reporters: “My answer is yes.” Despite claims from both sides last month that the Brexit negotiations were set to accelerate following October’s summit, no significant movement appears to have been made by either side to allow the talks to develop into discussions about a transition period or future trade ties.
During a joint press conference with the Brexit secretary, David Davis, there were few signs of any progress having been made since an October summit of EU leaders ruled that insufficient progress had been made to allow talks on a future trading relationship to begin. At a joint press conference in Brussels on Friday, the UK’s Brexit secretary, David Davis, implored Barnier and the EU27 to be flexible and move on to discussions about a future relationship, adding that there was a need to “build confidence” in the talks on the UK side.
On the biggest hurdle to progress, the divorce bill, Davis simply repeated Theresa May’s pledges from her Florence speech in September: to ensure that no member state lost out in the two years after Britain left the bloc, and to honour past commitments. Barnier, however, offered the British government little succour, instead insisting that the decision would be made by the member states at a leaders’ summit in December and that it would be “absolutely vital” to hear from Britain on its intentions with regard to its estimated €60bn (£53bn) divorce bill.
The EU is demanding clarity on those commitments before it will open talks on a transition period or the principles of a future trading deal. Asked if it was necessary, as has been suggested in reports, for the British to provide clarity on their intentions within a fortnight, the EU’s negotiator responded: “My answer is yes.”
Barnier said: “I have to present a sincere and real progress to the European council and the European parliament.” Barnier, who noted it had been 500 days since Britain voted to leave, said he needed to establish an “objective interpretation” of Theresa May’s pledge in her Florence speech that no EU member state would lose out as a result of Britain’s withdrawal, and that budget commitments would be honoured.
EU leaders need to decide at a summit in mid-December whether “sufficient” progress has been made on preliminary issues to allow the talks to move on to future relations, a stage Britain is desperate to reach. “This is absolutely vital if we are to achieve sufficient progress in December,” he said. Barnier repeatedly demanded “real and sincere progress”. “If that’s not the case, then we will continue and that will pull back the opening of discussions on the future,” he said.
Meanwhile, Davis batted away the suggestion from the Irish government and the European commission, as detailed in a leaked paper seen by the Guardian, that the issue of the Irish border could be settled by keeping the province in the single market and customs union. Separately, Konrad Szymański, Poland’s minister for European affairs, urged the UK to make an offer on the financial settlement as soon as possible. “Of course if we can’t make a deal in December we have to find another date, but it could be problematic because of internal procedural aspects both on European side and British side,” he said on a visit to Brussels.
He told reporters that there would be “no new border in the United Kingdom”. EU leaders need to decide at a summit on 14 and 15 December whether “sufficient” progress has been made on preliminary issues – the divorce bill, citizens’ rights and the Irish border – to allow the talks to move on to future relations, a stage Britain is desperate to reach.
On the issue of the Irish border, an EU paper circulated on Thursday among the 27 member states had suggested that Britain was being pressured to allow northern Ireland to stay within the single market and the customs union to avoid the building of a hard border on the island of Ireland.
Davis rejected the suggestion during the press conference, just as the Northern Ireland secretary, James Brokenshire, had done earlier in the week.
Davis, who admitted there had been “frank discussions” on the issue, said: “We respect the European Union desire to protect the legal order of the single market and customs union. But that cannot come at cost to the constitutional and economic integrity of the United Kingdom.”
Although there would need to be “specific solutions” for the unique position of Northern Ireland “this cannot amount to creating a new border inside our United Kingdom”, David added.
Barnier refused to be drawn on the impact of the instability of the UK cabinet, from which two ministers have recently been forced to quit.
He said: “I am not going to comment on the internal political situation in the United Kingdom. We are, of course, watching it very closely.”
He said there had been progress in the area of citizens’ rights and welcomed the government’s publication of a streamlined application system for EU nationals living in the UK who want to stay after Brexit.
He added, however, that work remained on the issues of family reunification, the exporting of social security benefits and the role of the European court of justice in ensuring the consistent application of case law in the EU and the UK.