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Barnier warns Brexit talks have been ‘difficult’ amid pessimism over deal Brexit talks fail to yield breakthrough with timely deal feared ‘impossible’
(about 2 hours later)
Michel Barnier has warned EU ambassadors that the latest negotiations with Boris Johnson’s government have been “difficult”, with it appearing increasingly unlikely that agreement can be found by the time of an EU summit later this week. A breakthrough in the Brexit talks has failed to materialise after a weekend of intensive negotiations leaving EU capitals concluding that it may now be impossible for the UK to leave the EU by 31 October with a deal.
After a weekend of intensive talks in Brussels, the EU’s chief negotiator offered a downbeat assessment of the chances of settling the major differences that remain between the two sides. In a briefing for EU ambassadors, Michel Barnier, raised the prospect of the talks with Boris Johnson having to continue after the upcoming leaders’ summit on Thursday such was the lack of progress.
The EU’s chief negotiator told diplomats for the member states that the latest British customs proposals for the Irish border remained an “untested” risk that the bloc could not countenance.
The prime minister hinted at the problems Johnson updated his cabinet on Sunday lunchtime about the state of play in negotiations with Brussels before a make-or-break week for his premiership.
He offered few details, but a Number 10 spokesperson said he had told his colleagues, “a pathway to a deal could be seen, but that there is still a significant amount of work to get there and we must remain prepared to leave on October 31.”
On the UK’s proposals for Stormont having a veto on Northern Ireland staying in the EU’s single market for goods, the Irish representative told the room that such an arrangement was “ not a notion that is included in the Good Friday Agreement”.
Barnier said the EU should give “one last chance” to the British to find a realistic replacement for the Irish backstop as he proposed last-ditch talks until the eve of the EU summit on Wednesday.
But sources said that the UK’s current thinking would not deliver a deal for leaders to sign off on Thursday, as Downing Street hopes.
A Brexit extension, whether “technical” if the two sides got close to a deal in late October, or longer, to accommodate a general election, was raised in the discussions for the first time in months.
“A lot of work remains to be done,” an official statement from the commission said following Barnier’s briefing for the EU capitals.
Entering 'the tunnel': what does it mean for the Brexit talks?Entering 'the tunnel': what does it mean for the Brexit talks?
Speaking to diplomats representing the EU27 on Sunday evening, in a restricted session due to recent leaks, Barnier is said to have spoken of his disappointment at the lack of progress according to EU sources. Johnson had executed a major policy U-turn at the end of last week by accepting that there could not be a customs border on the island of Ireland, raising some optimism on both sides of the channel.
“A lot of work remains to be done,” an official statement from the commission said. Under his alternative proposal, a pared down version of Theresa May’s customs partnership, Northern Ireland would leave the EU customs union.
Johnson executed a major policy U-turn at the end of last week by accepting that there could not be a customs border on the island of Ireland. But his alternative proposal of a pared down version of Theresa May’s 2017 customs partnership is an untested system that raises challenges with so little time before the UK is due to leave the EU. But the UK would agree to enforce the bloc’s customs rules and tariffs on goods moving from Britain to Northern Ireland. There would be a rebate system to compensate businesses impacted.
Under the plan, Northern Ireland would leave the EU customs union but the UK would agree to enforce the bloc’s customs rules and tariffs on goods moving from Britain to Northern Ireland. There would be a rebate system to compensate businesses impacted. But Barnier told the ambassadors that it would involve an untried system of tracking of goods and he spoke of the risks that would be facing the single market. “There were lots of ifs and maybes – too many”, said one EU diplomat of the discussions.
Negotiations will continue throughout Monday and Barnier will brief EU ministers in Luxembourg on Tuesday on whether a deal is in place for the leaders to sign off. One senior EU diplomat warned it would be impossible to hammer out a “totally new concept” to replace the Irish backstop within days.
EU sources suggested that a Brexit extension seemed all but certain given the amount of ground that needs to be covered by the negotiators. The source said the UK would not be able leave the EU with a deal as scheduled on 31 October unless it embraces a previous plan, the Northern Ireland only backstop - the EU’s original proposal that would leave the region in an EU customs union and following most single market rules.
One EU diplomat said: “The Northern Ireland-only backstop proposed in February 2018 could be landed by Thursday, but not a bespoke plan. A technical extension looks probable”. If the UK wanted a brand-new concept on customs for Northern Ireland a deal is “impossible” by the end of October said the diplomat.
Earlier on Sunday, the European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, said he would back such a prolongation of the UK’s membership. There is frustration in Brussels that Johnson’s government waited so long to table a set of proposals that contain many gaps.
Negotiations will continue throughout Monday. Barnier will brief EU ministers in Luxembourg on Tuesday evening.
On Sunday, the European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, said he would back such a prolongation of the UK’s membership.
“It’s up to the Brits to decide if they will ask for an extension,” Juncker told the Austrian newspaper Kurier on Sunday. “But if Boris Johnson were to ask for extra time – which probably he won’t – I would consider it unhistoric to refuse such a request.”“It’s up to the Brits to decide if they will ask for an extension,” Juncker told the Austrian newspaper Kurier on Sunday. “But if Boris Johnson were to ask for extra time – which probably he won’t – I would consider it unhistoric to refuse such a request.”
Johnson updated his cabinet on Sunday lunchtime about the state of play in negotiations with Brussels before a make-or-break week for his premiership.
The prime minister is still hoping to make enough progress at a European council meeting on Thursday to be able to hold a Commons vote on his Brexit plans in a rare Saturday sitting next weekend.
May’s customs plan was vehemently rejected by Brexiters as impractical. Jacob Rees-Mogg, the then chair of the hardline European Research Group of Tory MPs, described it as “completely cretinous, impractical, bureaucratic and a betrayal of common sense”.
But Rees-Mogg, who is now leader of the House of Commons, made clear on Sunday he and other leavers were prepared to compromise.
“Boris Johnson is … somebody who even the most arch-Eurosceptic, even a member of the Brexit party, can trust and have confidence in,” he said.Asked by Sophy Ridge on Sky News if he might have to eat his words on the idea of a customs partnership, Rees-Mogg added: “I don’t know but there’s a line from Churchill saying he’d often had to eat his own words and he found it a very nourishing diet. That is something that happens in politics but it is ultimately a question of trust and about the direction in which we are going.”
BrexitBrexit
Michel BarnierMichel Barnier
Boris JohnsonBoris Johnson
Jean-Claude JunckerJean-Claude Juncker
European UnionEuropean Union
EuropeEurope
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