EU aggression against May white paper compounds Brexit fears | Policy



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The EU granted torrid weather to the British negotiating team during the first presentation of the United Kingdom's White Paper on Future Relations, the Guardian

learned under the direction of Sabine Weyand, the team of officials separated the most contentious parties from the article as it was presented by Olly Robbins, Brexit's chief adviser to Theresa May, which sparked more and more worries on both sides.

The white paper is not going to be the basis of the negotiations, "said a top EU diplomat at the Guardian.British government sources, following the latest talks, admit growing desperation over what they regard as the intransigence of their European counterparts

Brexit's new secretary, Dominic Raab, expected in Brussels, heightening tensions behind the scenes.

He is supposed to be preparing to publish detailed plans on how the United Kingdom would deal with a lack of agreement by March 29, 2019 and a Brexit on the cliff.

Raab, former attorney Foreign Minister, UK Ambassador to the EU, Tim Barrow, met Wednesday in Whitehall with the UK ambassador to Whitehall, taking a hands-on approach to preparations, saying that he seemed more focused on the details than his predecessor, David Davis

Raab asked officials to provide brief summaries of the main issues, and his closest associates informed the Exit Department of the European Union that he had high standards.

The Secretary-General of the European Commission, Martin Selmayr, also worked on a document that will circulate among member states explaining the "very real" consequences for their citizens of a scenario without a transaction.

A British source said, "Of course, both parties have been prepared to do nothing and we have made detailed plans.The difference is that our plans include reasonable mitigations to alleviate some of the worst imaginations Some people have. "

The Guardian understands that Raab and Barnier spoke on the phone for the first time last Thursday, and after talks in Brussels they dinner, following an invitation from Raab.

EU diplomats and officials have been watching the events in Westminster in recent weeks, and sources said the first EU-UK discussion on the white paper Monday in Brussels was difficult, the representatives Brussels For its part, the UK's negotiating team thinks the Commission's negotiators are hiding behind EU guidelines released in March of last year, stating that "the four freedoms of the single market are indivisible and the United Kingdom should accept the free movement of people.

While the British government is in turmoil, the EU has not yet publicly reacted so substantial to the call of the United Kingdom in its white version.Published document last week, that it will strive to effectively stay in the single market of goods and will establish a customs regime on m to avoid border controls on trade.
[19659002] Higher sources in Brussels, however, stated that the reluctance to express themselves was explained by the fact that the UK negotiating team had made it clear that the total rejection of the document would constitute an existential threat to the presidency of Theresa May and would accelerate the collapse of the talks.

Barnier should still pull out of the game on Friday when he addresses reporters at the end of a meeting of ministers from 27 member states, where the white paper is to be discussed.

Instead, it was expected that we would make progress with regard to the so-called guarantee solution of the withdrawal agreement to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland after the Brexit. This would take place if there was no agreement or technological option to solve the problem at the end of the transition period in 2020.

Parallel In line with regulatory standards on property, Downing Street has proposed a customs arrangement with the EU to avoid border controls.

But a European diplomat representing a Member State said: "What the United Kingdom has proposed is unacceptable, we have not made any progress on the issue, it is good that the United Kingdom has tabled the white paper, but that's not what we're talking about right now. "The withdrawal agreement and the Irish protocol appear there first."

The commission will propose Thursday to the British team that negotiations on Brexit continue during the usual holiday month of August.

British and Brussels sources have suggested that an informal summit in Salzburg in September would probably be a crucial moment when EU leaders could take the initiative and ask Barnier to go ahead with his work. to adopt a more flexible approach or to return the United Kingdom. Anyway, an agreement on the withdrawal agreement, and the basis of a trade agreement through a political declaration, by the summit of the European Council in late October, is considered highly unlikely. It is understood that an emergency summit is scheduled for early November.

On Wednesday, Steffen Seibert, spokeswoman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, told reporters after a ministerial meeting in Berlin: "Intensive work awaits us until October; It's an ambitious calendar. "

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