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Theresa May faces her cabinet at a critical moment in Brexit negotiations Tuesday, as the Irish prime minister had told him that he could not let the UK impose the terms of a backstop.
The British Prime Minister will inform his colleagues one day after Leo Varadkar quickly rejected the idea that the United Kingdom could unilaterally call Irish security time shortly after a morning phone call between the two leaders.
May needs to secure the support of her cabinet on this issue, which according to the sources of issue 10 was the only remaining stumbling block in the Brexit discussions to be concluded at the end of the month.
Varadkar's office issued a statement shortly after May called on Monday morning, saying that Ireland was open to the possibility of a "revision mechanism" for the backstop, "the result such a revision could not involve a unilateral decision the safety net. "
The Prime Minister has called his interlocutor after hearing that Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab had alarmed the Irish last week by demanding that a possible backstop come back during a "solid meeting" with the foreign minister of the country. country, Simon Coveney.
Indicating the feverish atmosphere around the negotiations, sources close to Raab Monday were forced to react to the Westminster rumors by saying that the secretary of Brexit did not intend to resign for security reasons.
Before talking to May, Varadkar had warned that a three-month support was worthless: "As a government, we are working very hard to reach an agreement. Ideally by the end of the year, we can not accept any solution. The idea that there is a three-month limit on the backstop, a backstop with a three-month limit or an expiration date of this nature is not worth the paper on which it is written .
Half an hour after the Irish statement, Downing Street confirmed that the call had been launched "to take stock of the state of progress of the negotiations". But statement number 10 did not refer to Irish concerns about unilateralism.
A spokesman for Group No. 10 said the British and Irish leaders had agreed that the backstop would be a "temporary arrangement" and that May had stressed that a "mechanism to end the backstop" would be needed.
A backstop is deemed necessary to avoid a return to a hard border in Ireland, if the United Kingdom and the European Union are not able to conclude a long-term free trade agreement after the end of the period Brexit transition in 2020. This implies the whole United Kingdom remains in the customs union until an agreement is reached.
Several cabinet members, however, fear that the EU will use the support arrangements to put pressure on the UK after April, when deep free trade negotiations begin – and that Britain could actually remain stuck long-term, still waiting. customs union without any say in decision-making.
It is unclear until they will express their concerns to May at the cabinet meeting on Tuesday. "I think that almost half of the cabinet members pointed out that it was important that the UK could end the security system, but I do not know how many specifically will do at the meeting," he said. said a cabinet source.
Number 10 stated that the British and Irish statements showed that progress had been made, with the Irish indicating that they were willing to discuss a review or mechanism to put an end to the principle. of the guarantee. But Downing Street did not want to discuss its details, saying only that the UK was "looking for a mechanism" to remove it.
Coveney confirmed that Raab had asked the Irish for a three-month backstop limit when they met in London last week. "This was discussed, he was fired and explained very clearly that it was not a runner," said a spokesman for the Foreign Minister, adding that both men had had a "heated discussion".
Raab declined to comment, although the minister has already made it clear that it was necessary for the guarantee agreements to be final.
European leaders believe that "breakthroughs" must be made by the weekend so that Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, can announce a summit for the end of November. Without such development, sources have suggested that the only viable option would be to leave the deal until the leaders' summit in Brussels on 13 December.
British officials, however, suggested convening a summit with a notice of one week. They indicated that they thought that such a summit could take place the week of November 26, just before May, and that other leaders flew away on November 29 for the G20 in Argentina.
The European Union seems to be relaxed in favor of a customs union covering the whole of the United Kingdom, which would replace the idea of a specific agreement in Ireland of the North, which has been repeatedly rejected by May and the British government. But that would imply that Downing Street agrees that this is actually a permanent arrangement, officials said.
British sources also said that the discussions on the future economic partnership – the future trade agreement – were as advanced as they could be without resolving the backstop issue, which should be a key element of the future. 39, disengagement agreement, namely the legally applicable UK terms leaving the EU next March.
A 15-page project was presented to Cabinet members at a meeting held a few weeks ago. According to one person, its wording was wide enough that it could be interpreted as an abandonment of Checkers' insistence on the UK's signature of a common rule book for foodstuffs and products. is hated by conservative law.
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