This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49662531
The article has changed 11 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
Version 3 | Version 4 |
---|---|
Brexit: How are the UK's talks with the EU going? | Brexit: How are the UK's talks with the EU going? |
(4 days later) | |
The EU's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, has said "a lot of work needs to be done in the next few days" if any progress is to be made in talks with UK officials on Brexit. | |
He was speaking after another meeting in Brussels with the UK Brexit Secretary, Steve Barclay. | |
"We had serious detailed discussions," Mr Barclay said. "And we both want to see a deal." | |
Technical teams are meeting again next week and Prime Minister Boris Johnson will meet European Council President Donald Tusk, among others, at the UN General Assembly in New York. | |
Mr Johnson's overall approach is "let's just get this done." | |
His government is seeking to renegotiate the withdrawal deal agreed by his predecessor, Theresa May. But while it says progress is being made, no formal proposals have been tabled. | |
EU officials have previously suggested that the UK has been "dancing around the issues" during the talks in Brussels. | |
The UK has now presented informal suggestions in what are known as 'non-papers', but on the substance it is clear that significant differences remain between the two sides. | |
Irish backstop | Irish backstop |
The UK is insisting that the protocol on Ireland in the withdrawal agreement has to be stripped back pretty radically - to remove the backstop. It is designed to keep the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland (which will be the only land border between the EU and the UK after Brexit) as open as it is now, under all future circumstances. | |
The EU had previously said that the text of the withdrawal agreement could not be reopened. | |
In a sign of some flexibility, that position has changed. | |
It has now said it is willing to look at alternatives. But in a statement issued after the meeting between Mr Barnier and Mr Barclay it said any solution would have to be legally sound and meet "all of the objectives of the backstop". | |
That's a problem because the UK appears to be asking not only for a different solution to the impasse, but for a different final outcome. | |
The backstop involves regulatory alignment between Ireland and Northern Ireland in order to keep the border open, and to protect the integrity of the EU's single market (as well as the provisions of the Good Friday Agreement). | |
But in a speech in Madrid this week, Mr Barclay warned against seeking a "purist, identical result" which could only be achieved by never leaving parts of the single market and the customs union. | |
"The EU risks continuing to insist on a test that the UK cannot meet, and that the UK Parliament has rejected three times," he said. | |
"We risk being trapped in a zero-sum game, which will lead to zero outcomes, which I do not want." | |
Mr Barclay also suggested that the details could be sorted out in a transition period after Brexit - a position that the EU seems certain to reject. | |
Any progress? | |
So what progress, if any, has been made? | |
The idea of an all-Ireland zone for food and animals, in which the Republic and Northern Ireland would follow the same rules after Brexit, has been explored and officials say the UK has presented "preliminary ideas" on how any solution in Ireland could involve the consent of all parties. | |
A deal on the strict rules regulating the agri-food industry is vital because it makes up a significant chunk of trade across the Irish border. | |
But it wouldn't cover everything. | |
And the UK has rejected any suggestion that such discussions could evolve into a backstop - which would cover all aspects of trade - for Northern Ireland only, rather than the current plan, which would keep the whole of the UK in the EU's customs territory. | |
"It's still a no to the Northern Irish backstop," one official said. | |
In other words, the UK is sticking with the suggestion that Northern Ireland and Ireland should form separate customs and regulatory territories, with checks carried out in business premises, not on the border. | |
The UK team has talked of an "enhanced market surveillance scheme" for industrial goods moving between the UK and the EU single market, which would make use of increased surveillance, data sharing and tough penalties for infringement. | |
But EU officials have described the UK ideas as "conceptual" and "aspirational". | |
"We want to keep this going," an EU source says. "But at some point the UK needs to give us a proposal. We can't negotiate without one." | |
And there is obvious scepticism on the EU side about the ability of alternative arrangements, including things like trusted-trader schemes, to provide an overall solution. | |
"There have been a number of proposed solutions by various groups [on] alternative arrangements," Ireland's deputy Prime Minister, Simon Coveney, told the BBC. | |
"When they've been tested they haven't stood up to scrutiny. That's just the truth of it." | |
The essence of the EU argument? We can't replace a legal guarantee with a promise. | |
Future relationship | Future relationship |
But it's not just about the backstop. | |
Boris Johnson also wants a clearer path, in the political declaration on the future relationship, to what he calls a "best-in-class", Canada-style free-trade agreement with the EU. | |
It has been made clear during the talks in Brussels that this would involve the UK getting rid of many "level playing field" elements - promises agreed by Theresa May to stick close to EU rules on things such as subsidies for business, workers' rights and environmental rules. | |
That, though, could make it harder to reach an eventual agreement on a free-trade deal. | That, though, could make it harder to reach an eventual agreement on a free-trade deal. |
The EU is far more nervous about level-playing field issues with the UK than it is with a country such as Canada because the UK is much closer geographically and a far larger trading partner. So it poses a much greater competitive threat. | |
And the less likely it is a trade deal can be done relatively quickly in the future, the more likely it is the EU will stick rigidly to the terms of the backstop. | And the less likely it is a trade deal can be done relatively quickly in the future, the more likely it is the EU will stick rigidly to the terms of the backstop. |
There is also a sense from those involved in the talks that the UK's desire for a looser relationship involves not just economic issues but defence and security, too. | |
All of this exasperates the EU. | All of this exasperates the EU. |
"The UK wants a less involved relationship," said one EU source close to the talks. "But it's not clear what that means in practice." | |
Time is tight | |
There is plenty of churn behind the scenes but little certainty about anything. | There is plenty of churn behind the scenes but little certainty about anything. |
Philip Rycroft, who was until recently the permanent secretary at the Department for Exiting the European Union, has said it will be very difficult to get a deal done by mid-October. | |
"I think it is possible," he said. "But I don't see the other 26 countries ignoring the interests of Ireland… and time is crushingly tight." | |
If the EU were to shift position on any issue, it would want some degree of confidence a new deal could win the approval of the UK Parliament. | If the EU were to shift position on any issue, it would want some degree of confidence a new deal could win the approval of the UK Parliament. |
That could mean waiting for a general election - but if anything is going to be achieved in these talks, it is going to have to happen pretty quickly. | That could mean waiting for a general election - but if anything is going to be achieved in these talks, it is going to have to happen pretty quickly. |
"I'm not optimistic, and I'm not pessimistic," Michel Barnier said, quoting one of the EU's founding fathers, Jean Monnet. "I'm still determined." | |
What claims do you want BBC Reality Check to investigate? Get in touch | What claims do you want BBC Reality Check to investigate? Get in touch |
Read more from Reality Check | Read more from Reality Check |
Follow us on Twitter | Follow us on Twitter |