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BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The brains, sweat and toil of last week brought British and European officials to the brink of an agreement over Brexit this weekend, but they were finally defeated by the painful story and the dark future of a divided Ireland.
PHOTO FILE: A manager inspects the Union Jack flag next to the European Union flag, before a meeting between the British Secretary of State at the exit of the European Union , Dominic Raab, and the European Union's chief negotiator for Brexit, Michel Barnier, at the headquarters of the European Commission. in Brussels, Belgium July 19, 2018. REUTERS / Francois Lenoir
European sources familiar with events at the European Commission headquarters in Brussels this weekend told Reuters that more work is needed on the Irish backstop. But it is now especially for politicians to unravel a knot that has challenged the creativity of Europe's finest diplomatic brains.
"We can only do a lot of things," said a diplomat from the EU. "The British are not ready, they need more time," he added.
He echoed the widely held view that British Prime Minister Theresa May needed a sense of political turmoil at home to convince his extremist political allies to abandon the last necessary concessions to a agreement.
The teams led by May's European advisor Oliver Robbins and German Assistant Chief Trader Michel Barnier's German assistant Sabine Weyand worked long hours, often during the night, over the past week, and were still looking for ways to close the gaps late Saturday. the hope of an Irish solution.
But in early Sunday, despite the resolution of conflicts over other issues in what diplomats called an atmosphere of growing mutual appreciation, it seemed like the Irish border was a bridge too far apart.
London was still reluctant to subscribe to the most modest insurance clause, which could one day treat Northern Ireland and Britain differently, in order to keep open the land border of this fragile province, a essential aspect of the 1998 peace agreement that ended decades of Irish conflict. bloodshed.
May's "support" solution remained longer than expected across the UK inside the EU customs zone until it reached the end of the year. a new trade agreement between the United Kingdom and the European Union is put in place, thus ensuring the absence of friction at the Irish-Northern Ireland border. exclusion clause to prevent this protection from becoming permanent.
Europeans have reduced their demands to Ireland as much as possible, proposing to extend by one year all the UK's place within the EU's customs zone and to quietly control trade between Ireland North and the continent.
But they could not agree to sign a withdrawal treaty that leaves the issue of the Irish border dependent on the uncertain outcome of future negotiations on trade relations between the EU and the UK. The British complained that the EU wanted a "safety net at the bottom" and said no.
Addressing the British parliament on Monday, May urged the EU not to let stand the Irish support for derailing the Brexit negotiations, saying that an agreement was achievable.
WEEK OF THE SUMMIT
When Brexit Secretary of May Dominic Raab met Barnier in the late afternoon on Sunday to officially announce Britain's red line, this meeting not only helped to break the stalemate, but has also reopened, according to EU sources, technical issues. the negotiators thought they were closed.
Leaders from 27 other EU countries will meet in Brussels Wednesday for dinner to discuss the way forward. They invited May to talk to them before Thursday's EU summit, but they will try not to negotiate with her.
They will take account of Barnier's briefing with their EU ministers in Luxembourg on Tuesday, and any new decision taken in May, which told parliament Monday in London that blocking Irish backs should not derail the Brexit talks.
Some, including French President Emmanuel Macron, want to put pressure on Britain and the Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland (DUP), which are pushing the minority government in May, to give ground, partly in reinforcing the planning of a "no agreement" outcome next March, widely viewed as a risk of economic upheaval.
Other leaders, diplomats said in talks between envoys on Brexit tactics, warned after the debacle of the weekend not to repeat the cross-channel rhetoric that followed their last summit with May in Salzburg last month.
For the moment, the course of action for EU negotiators is, as a classic British saying goes, "keep calm and keep going", hoping that politicians will find a way out of their hole.
"It could take longer before the panic around a" no-deal "leaks in and hopefully softens the DUP product line," said a diplomat from the US. ; EU. "And there was never any agreement with the EU before the 11th hour."
Written by Alastair Macdonald; Edited by Mark Heinrich
