BOTH the UK and the EU claimed yesterday that ‘progress’ is being made in the Brexit talks.
Unresolved issues include intellectual property, data protection, the Irish border and the rule of the European Court of Justice. EU negotiator Michel Barnier said he needed detail from the UK on its plan to avoid a hard border in Ireland.
He told journalists that remaining ‘bones of contention’ between the two sides were being steadily eliminated with particular progress on issues of security, judicial and defence co-operation after ‘long talks’ on Friday. Both sides are hoping to agree a divorce deal and a statement on future trading relations before the summit of EU leaders on 17 October.
Raab said that deadline could be missed slightly. He told reporters: ‘We’re committed to resolving the deal by (the October council) and ultimately on my side I am stubbornly optimistic that a deal is within our reach.’
Barnier said there was a ‘measure of flexibility’ and if the process slipped by a ‘few days or weeks’ it would still be possible for the UK to leave the EU with a deal, if approved by the UK and EU Parliaments, on schedule. The EU negotiator said the ‘building blocks’ of an agreement were falling into place.
He repeated his offer of an ‘unprecedented’ future partnership with the UK but insisted this depended on an ‘orderly’ withdrawal and settling key outstanding issues. PM May’s blueprint, which would see the UK collaborate with EU rules on trade in goods is unpopular with many Tory MPs, with leading Brexiteers like Jacob Rees-Mogg and Boris Johnson calling for it to be ditched.
Johnson said he agreed with May’s former aide Nick Timothy, who urged her to ditch the ‘Chequers Plan’. The meeting comes after the most senior member of Theresa May’s cabinet, David Lidington, called for the EU to back the prime minister’s Brexit plan or risk a no deal scenario.
Both sides are very much aware of the incendiary class relations that are emerging in all of the EU states especially in the UK, France, Germany and Italy, and some are reasoning that this is not the time for a showdown between the UK and the major EU powers, for fear that it will end in a ‘revolutionary situation’.
