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BELFAST / LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Theresa May was under pressure on Monday to revise her exit plan from the EU after the Brexit negotiations were held away this week. under the pretext of the "Irish backstop".
PHOTO FILE: British Prime Minister Theresa May attends a roundtable with business leaders whose companies are the first signatories of the Race at Work Charter at the Southbank Center in London, UK, on October 11 2018. REUTERS / Henry Nicholls
Less than six months before Britain leaves the bloc and a few days before the month of May to travel to Brussels for a summit on Wednesday as both sides hope to progress, talks on Brexit were halted Sunday, the two parties failing to agree on how to treat the United States. Kingdom's only land border with the EU.
How to prevent the return of a hard border between the British province of Northern Ireland and Ireland, member of the EU, became the main obstacle to the conclusion of an agreement on Brexit, the most important change of Britain's policy for more than 40 years.
May, a self-proclaimed unionist who has repeatedly said that she could not accept the break-up of the UK, is striving to find a way to meet the demands not only of the United Kingdom, but also of the United Kingdom. EU, but also from its conservative party and its partners in parliament, Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) of Northern Ireland.
For now, closing the gap between these competing demands has not been successful, and Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said any deal would now take "a little more time than many hoped. "
The DUP, which has threatened to gain support from the government from behind, said it now felt that a Brexit without agreement was almost inevitable and described the Brussels talks as a "battle for the union".
"Given the way the EU has behaved and the corner where she placed Theresa May, there is no agreement that I currently know who will command a majority in the House of Commons," said Sammy Wilson, party spokesperson at Brexit.
"So it is probably inevitable that we end up with a scenario of lack of agreement," he told the Belfast News Letter.
May's former foreign minister, Boris Johnson, a leading figure in the Brexit campaign and one of bookmakers' favorites to replace May, was equally critical, saying the talks "are starting the moment for crisis".
"Assuming to change the constitutional provisions of the United Kingdom, the EU is treating us with flagrant disregard," he wrote in his weekly column of the newspaper Telegraph.
"It's time to remove the safety net."
BACKSTOP TO A BACKSTOP
It was this kind of opposition that prevented Brexit Minister May, Dominic Raab, from accepting an agreement in Brussels on Sunday.
British officials said London could not accept Brussels' request to form "a reinforcement", which would see the EU's proposal to keep Northern Ireland in the bloc's customs union if a new business relationship is not in place in time.
Britain has long stated that it wants an agreement on future relations with the EU, which, according to London, includes a set of common rules for manufactured and agricultural products, which would eliminate the need for of a support plan for Ireland.
European negotiators, however, criticized the proposal and said Sunday that it was clear that, as things stand, May did not think she could get an agreement through her cabinet of ministers, which will meet on Tuesday.
EU officials and diplomats said they "will stay calm and continue", in the hope that May can solve her problems in London.
British officials were optimistic about the progress made at this week's EU summit. Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt told Luxembourg journalists: "There are one or two very difficult outstanding issues, but I think we can do it, whether we do it this week or not, who knows?" I know that everyone is making incredible efforts.
But any solution to the border issue seemed remote. Ireland reiterated that Britain must respect its commitment to put in place a support plan.
"For us, we want to see a result that settles the nerves, which allows us to go ahead with a managed and reasonable Brexit," Coveney told reporters in Ireland.
"I still think it's possible, but it's going to take a little longer than many people would have hoped for."
William James in London, Alastair Macdonald in Brussels; Edited by Janet Lawrence
