European leaders: UK only "pretending to negotiate" after Brexit stalemate | Policy

The British government "pretends to negotiate" with the European Union and has not tabled any new proposals to break the stalemate over Brexit, according to EU officials.

Theresa May de facto MP David Lidington and Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay met with senior EU officials and MEPs in Brussels and Strasbourg this week, but the talks were inconclusive. obvious.

The British side believes that a crucial process has been started and hopes that progress will be made by February 27, when MPs should have another decisive vote in favor of Brexit.

However, on Wednesday night, European Council President Donald Tusk said that the EU27 was still waiting for proposals. "No news is not always good news," he tweeted after meeting with EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier. "The EU27 is still waiting for concrete and realistic proposals from London on how to break the Brexit deadlock," Tusk said.

Barnier said the ongoing talks with the UK are not even called negotiations. In an interview Tuesday morning with Guy Verhofstadt, Brexit's chief representative in the European Parliament, Mr Barnier said that there was "no negotiation" with the British.

"These are at best courtesy calls and we have nothing new to say," said Barnier, according to a source close to the conversation.

Verhofstadt asked the EU negotiator for an update following the meeting between Barnier and Barclay during a dinner at the residence of the British ambbadador in Brussels, where they had dinner on sea sole North, roast duck and British cheese, accompanied by Sancerre and Saint-Emilion wines.

"They pretend to negotiate while they still do not know what they want and how they want it," said the source, who called this week's meetings a "dust lift" and a series " opportunities and photos ". "We are willing to negotiate, but there is nothing on the table on the British side."

Verhofstadt asked Lidington four times what the British proposal was and "four times they did not get an answer," according to an EU official who described the meeting as "very surreal".

With only 44 days before Brexit and speculation on the Prime Minister's plan, the potential for confusing messages is high. Lidington has sown confusion among Parliament officials and MEPs about the critical date when he spoke of a vote on the "27" without specifying the month. "The whole room thought it was in February except [one official] who thought it was in March, "said the source.

The questions about what Lidington really meant had been amplified on Wednesday morning as officials equated media reports with a nighttime conversation in a bar where Brexit negotiator Olly Robbins seemed to suggest a clash at the end. of March.

Another EU source said that a separate meeting with British ministers in Strasbourg had revealed "nothing really revolutionary".

An EU diplomat said May's strategy was probably to turn the tide "by sending his negotiators here and there" to gain time before the EU summit on March 21-22. "They present the same proposals and get the same answers," said the diplomat.

Many EU sources have urged the public and private sectors not to reopen the Brexit withdrawal agreement, stressing that it is incumbent on the government British to develop a plan providing for a stable majority in the House of Commons.

The EU is ready to discuss the non-binding political declaration, which outlines a vision of the EU's relationship with the UK after Brexit. However, officials said the UK has not engaged in any dialogue on rewriting the political statement.

Roberto Gualtieri, socialist member of the European Parliament's Brexit Steering Committee, urged British ministers to seriously consider Jeremy Corbyn's draft customs union. But they told him that it was unlikely to command a majority in the Commons, according to an EU source.

Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, also suggested that May should consider the Corbyn plan as a way out of the stalemate when the duo met last week, but the prime minister did not agree. did not answer.

The British hope that the EU will accept changes to the disputed Irish system, which conservative Eurosceptics say they can not accept in their current form. After his talks in Strasbourg, Barclay told reporters that Westminster needed to see "a legally binding change in security," saying it was the "clear message" of Graham Brady's amendment for which the deputies voted last month.

The UK is looking for three solutions for these changes: a deadline, an exit mechanism and "alternative arrangements" discussed by a working group of Conservative MPs.

"A time limit, an exit clause, magic solutions based on technology, that's all we've heard before," said a senior European official. "We can not begin to invent solutions for the British."

The EU remains reluctant to reaffirm its previous badurances regarding the temporary nature of support by placing it in a different legal document. Conservative backbenchers have launched the idea of ​​a codicil, a format that has no official status in negotiations with the EU.

EU sources are still not convinced that such a legalistic move would change mindsets. "I do not think she has shown anyone that she could muster a majority," said an EU diplomat. "There is not much incentive to move."

The EU's top official described Brexit's prospects as "unfortunate", arguing that the Prime Minister's decision to call for changes on technical support had closed the options for an agreement. "Theresa May chose to combine with the most radical Brexiteers. She did it to get her party together, and frankly, I do not think there is an agreement on that basis. "