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BRUSSELS / LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) – European Union leaders will give Wednesday a difficult reception to British Prime Minister Theresa May in Brussels, warning her to mobilize support in her country for the conclusion of the talks. Brexit agreement.
British Prime Minister Theresa May leaves 10 Downing Street in London on October 15, 2018, in Britain. REUTERS / Peter Nicholls
May will address the 27 other EU national leaders at a summit before sitting down to table without it. Officials said they expected executives to say to May that they would have more to offer since blocking talks on Sunday and that they are preparing for Britain to leave the bloc without any agreement.
Summit President Donald Tusk warned that the risk of a "no deal" that would allow Britain to come out of the bloc, sink into legal chaos and chaos at the border on March 29 was bigger than ever. He imposed in May the responsibility to bring a "creative" solution to break the stalemate on the EU-UK land border on the island of Ireland.
Tusk called it a "Gordian knot", stating that he was not perceived as a contemporary "Alexander the Great", able to fight his way through the clutter of opposition in London and in Belfast on its Brexit project to conclude a treaty with the EU.
The message "disagree" is sufficiently sincere. It is also a tactic to put pressure on a trading partner that the EU considers weak. And that might possibly help May by giving her the kind of political theater useful for persuading the British that she fought for the best deal.
More subtly, leaders can also seem relaxed on the timing of the talks. On Tuesday, officials took up the mantra that "time is running out" to sign a treaty that parliaments can ratify in time for Brexit. But, feeling that there was urgency in London, senior EU officials have said that Brussels "would remain calm and continue", ready to wait until December or even later to reach a final agreement.
"For the moment, Britain is negotiating with Britain," said Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders, referring to May's problems with his own cabinet and his supporters. "We need more weeks to see if we can get an agreement. We will work serenely. "
The German Minister of European Affairs called on May to "assume his responsibilities and be constructive". But some diplomats believe that May may not be able to resume negotiations before having led his budget by parliament in early November.
Citing a German government document, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported on Tuesday that the European Commission had proposed allowing Britain – "goodwill" – to remain in the customs union and on the internal market. the EU beyond a transitional arrangement agreed until the end of December 2020.
PREPARATIONS WITHOUT ANY AGREEMENT
The leaders will decide at dinner after the departure of May Wednesday to confirm whether or not they intend to concretize their intention to hold a special summit on Brexit in mid-November. But Tusk added that they would need to believe that an agreement is about to be reached – and without a new decision taken in Brussels since the month of May in Brussels, this belief seems improbable to materialize this week.
"The choice the UK faces needs a much clearer and more precise message," said a senior diplomat to the ambassadors after talks broke down on Sunday. The EU has gone as far as possible to resolve May's problems with her hard-line allies in Brexit and Northern Ireland, he said. The top should not let May think things are going normally.
Diplomacy said the EU's message to May after Wednesday's dinner will depend on its approach. If it brings to Brussels the uncompromising tone that they had heard a month ago in Salzburg, while calls from both parties were hitting their all-time low, then EU warnings of imminent calamity s & # 39; intensify.
Jean-Claude Juncker, EU chief executive, will tell the leaders after May spoke on Wednesday night about the European Commission's "no agreement" project. Officials said this would include how to rush into European emergency legislation to cope with huge disruptions in transport and trade links.
The Commission had planned to publish its proposals last week, but was slow, officials said, as Brexit negotiators did not want to denigrate the increasingly positive atmosphere of behind-the-scenes talks. The brick wall that these discussions provoked over the Irish border issue reversed this logic.
Some European leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, faced with problems related to intensive cross-Canada traffic and traffic, want more public clarity to show that the bloc could face the removal of Britain from European regulations.
Report by Alastair Macdonald; @macdonaldrtr; Edited by Gareth Jones
