Despite big differences, UK and EU discuss Brexit prospects

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Prime Minister Theresa May and other EU leaders on Thursday expressed renewed confidence in their favor of an agreement on Brexit, saying that they were working hard to overcome the obstacles that had paralyzed the negotiations just a few days ago.

Less than six months before Britain leaves the EU as part of its biggest policy change for more than 40 years, both parties disagree on how to deal with their only land border, between the United States and the United States. British province of Northern Ireland and Ireland.

However, while the atmosphere at a two – day summit in Brussels was more optimistic, both parties have moved little on how to solve the border problem, officials and diplomats of the United States. EU claiming that May had not offered anything new to open negotiations.

For the moment, however, both parties seemed to be happy to propose a solution to this problem a little further.

"We are all working, we are intensifying work on these remaining issues," May said at a press conference after a two-day summit in Brussels.

"What the leaders around the table tell me … since I arrived in Brussels yesterday, it's a very real feeling that people want this deal to be concluded."

"I am convinced that we can achieve this good deal."

This has been a dramatic change since Brexit Minister Dominic Raab left Brussels on Sunday after the Brexit talks, which lasted more than a year, broke down over the border issue.

The problem is centered on what is called a "safety net" – an insurance policy guaranteeing that there will be no return to a hard border on the border. island of Ireland, former focal point of sectarian tensions, if a future trading relationship is not in place in time.

In an attempt to advance the talks, May had already indicated that she would consider extending a so-called transitional period "after a few months" after the departure of Britain from the European Union in March, decision that his detractors have described as treason but that the bloc hailed. .

Extending the transition period could mean that if a future partnership is not ready, it would not need to trigger security, which until now was not desirable for the British side. However, even an extension would not dispel the EU's insistence that such reinforcement be agreed to guarantee agreement.

TRANSITION

Such an extension would be difficult for May to sell at home, where her overall strategy was criticized by all parties. Brexit activists accuse him of turning Great Britain into a vassal state. Proponents of the EU say that the offer is the worst of the world and that others are frustrated by the discussions.

Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg, an influential Brexit supporter, told Reuters that any extension of the transition was "an unfortunate and costly idea". "No word on budget or new laws, the quintessence of the vassal state."

May is also facing a rebellion from her parliamentary partners, the Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland, who has threatened to vote against her government's budget if she complies with the EU's demands. They say the proposal would take Northern Ireland off the rest of Britain.

Diane Dodds, a European legislator of the DUP, said the extension did not dispel the fears of her party. "Very good, but it does not do anything to really change the safety net … Therefore, this does not solve any problem, it does not offer any guarantee."

With the EU showing little signs of a change of position on the back net, its leaders could only offer May the support they were confident that an agreement could be reached. The diplomats said they hoped the talks could resume seriously when and if the budget is adopted early November.

EU Council President Donald Tusk described the atmosphere as much better than that of the last summit in Salzburg, which ended with acrimony. "What I feel today is that we are closer to the final solutions and the agreement," he said at a press conference.

Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, said: "It will be done."

But the North Irish question still needs to be resolved. May expressed the hope that both parties would be able to negotiate at the very least an agreement on a near future partnership, which would ensure borders as simple as possible.

EU leaders were more circumspect.

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar summed up the situation by stating that there remain "big gaps" between the two sides "both in terms of the shape of future relations and the protocol for the future. Northern Ireland and Ireland, as well as the backstop ".