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DUBLIN (Reuters) – British pro-Brexit ministers "do not live in the real world" if they think they can renegotiate the divorce treaty agreed with the European Union last week, the Irish minister said Saturday. Foreign Minister, Simon Coveney.
Ireland's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Simon Coveney, speaks at a workshop "Preparing Brexit for Ireland" at the Convention Center in Dublin, Ireland, on October 25, 2018. REUTERS / Clodagh Kilcoyne
British Prime Minister Theresa May is fighting to save the draft withdrawal agreement before a vote in Parliament after ministerial resignations and an open discussion on a challenge to her leadership after Cabinet approval.
British media announced on Friday that pro-Brexit ministers, including Trade Minister Liam Fox and Environment Minister Michael Gove, the Brexiteer's most important representative in the May government, would meet this weekend. end to change his agreement.
Ireland is one of the governments of the European Union that has stated that it is not possible to amend the proposals.
Coveney said on Saturday that the withdrawal treaty would not be reopened and suggested that hesitant British ministers seek instead to influence the political declaration on future relations still under discussion.
"This idea that after two years of negotiations, four or five ministers can negotiate a different outcome and agree on it themselves, and then wait for the EU that it adheres to that, I just think that it does not live in the real world, Coveney declared a podcast recorded by the Irish Times at the annual conference of his party Fine Gael.
The legally binding withdrawal treaty is part of a Brexit package, alongside the declaration, that envoys from other EU Member States gathered to discuss in Brussels on Friday before the November 25 summit for European leaders to approve both documents.
Diplomats and officials involved in Friday's meeting told Reuters that EU states have said they want an "ambitious" future relationship with Britain, but that would not mean friction-free trade.
Coveney said the negotiations in the next few days on the statement offered British ministers the opportunity to get the insurance they needed for future trade between the European Union and the United Kingdom. -Britain.
"The negotiating team deliberately decided to publish a skeleton that needs to be developed and that will probably have a double or quadrupled size at the end," he said, adding that it was "absolutely" possible to discuss with London.
Reportage of Padraic Halpin; Edited by Robin Pomeroy
