May seeks to negotiate agreement on future EU ties in Brussels

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Prime Minister Theresa May will visit Brussels on Wednesday to try to finalize a plan for future relations between Britain and the EU, hoping to secure commitments that will appease the rebels of Britain. Brexit at home.

Just four months before Britain leaves the bloc, both parties are trying to define their divorce terms and outlines their future relationship before a summit on Sunday. This would give their parliaments the time to consider an agreement ending more than 40 years of partnership.

The blueprint for future relations is a political document of about 20 pages, intended to be approved in parallel with a 600-page treaty of release of dense legal text, unveiled last week.

This draft agreement has so far hardly helped convince British MPs, the Eurosceptics of May's Conservative Party and its allies of the Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland, to lobby to force it to change Cpl.

This has also sparked some anger in other European capitals, with Spain threatening to vote against the Gibraltar Treaty and others disagree over fishing rights and trade.

Without the approval of EU leaders and parliament, the UK risks leaving the EU abruptly without any treaty governing its relations with the bloc, a scenario that, according to companies, would reduce supply lines and impede investment and trade.

Before the meeting between May and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker at 16:30 GMT, an EU diplomat said that there remained "… necessary … work on three aspects: the fish, goods and Gibraltar … Juncker and May will try to fix that.

May's spokesman gave little, declaring only, "It's fair to describe this as part of the ongoing negotiations."

The EU is trying to dissuade the UK from renegotiating the draft treaty, while seeking to dispel the concerns expressed by some of the remaining 27 Member States.

To be valid, the treaty of exit must be supported by a "qualified majority" of at least 20 EU states representing 65% of the EU population. But the block is looking for unanimity, as this would be needed for future trade deals when Britain leaves.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has asked for assurance that the future of the disputed British territory of Gibraltar would be settled by direct talks between Madrid and London.

His Foreign Minister Josep Borrell said on Wednesday: "We will not give our agreement before … we are assured that … negotiations between the UK and the European Union will include not Gibraltar, that it would be a separate negotiation that Spain would need to agree.

Many in Brussels thought that Sanchez was trying to score points with voters at home before the local elections in the southern region of Andalusia on December 2. They said the problem could be resolved by the leaders and warned Madrid not to push further than to jeopardize all the agreement on Brexit. [L8N1XW2P7]

No renegotiation

"We are following the latest developments with growing concern," said a second EU diplomat. "Nobody wants to reopen the withdrawal agreement."

As the fate of the interim agreement on Brexit is still far from clear, both parties have also advanced emergency plans for the worst case scenario: Britain was pulling out of the country. EU without an agreement.

Diplomats in Brussels said Britain also sought to facilitate the flow of goods after Brexit, which was too close to the privileges granted only to countries adhering to EU single market rules, including the free movement of people and services.

"The UK wants the free movement of goods, which will not happen because we have come back to the discussion on partial access to the single market, which we do not do," said another diplomat.

In addition, France has called for more guarantees on future access to British fishing waters, which London wants to keep firmly under control after Brexit.

EU states facing outstanding problems seek to resolve them, either through the blueprint of relations between the EU and the UK after Brexit, or by declarations of the EU. 39; separate EU that would not formally part of the agreement with Britain. France supported such additional statements, while Germany opposed, stating that the focus should be on the completion of the project.

Following the May talks with Juncker, EU envoys will meet on Thursday morning to discuss the broad outlines of their relations. Leaders' negotiators will then address the issue at a meeting scheduled for Friday, two days before the summit.