On the first day of the fourth round of talks, Barnier said the prime minister’s €20bn (£17.6bn) offer did not mean the UK would be given a transition period or that negotiations could move on to the detail of a future trading relationship.
“It remains more necessary than ever to create the trust that we need to set up and build upon our future relationship,” he said, adding that it was up to Britain to provide clarity with time running out before it leaves.
During a joint appearance in Brussels, Davis insisted there “could be no excuses for standing in the way” of progress this week and it was “obvious” that discussions on the financial settlement needed to be had in the context of talks over the future relationship. [...]
Coming out of a meeting with EU ministers from the 27 other member states, Barnier suggested little had changed in the state of the discussions.
“A discussion that is going to take place because the UK is asking for it on this transitional period does not mean we will no longer need to achieve sufficient progress,” he said.
“We are not going to mix up discussions on debts and discussion on the past commitments. We are not going to mix up those subjects, which are part of an orderly withdrawal, on a discussion of our future relationship.”
Davis said he still expected this week’s round of talks to build on May’s speech, saying the UK was “absolutely committed to working through the detail”.
“We are laying out concrete proposals and there are no excuses for standing in the way of progress … It will take pragmatism from both sides to make headway and I hope we can achieve that this week.”
But Barnier offered little succour to the UK’s cause and directly contradicted Davis’s claims over the weekend that Britain would no longer be under EU law in 2019, should it seek a transition period.
“The EU has to decide whether to have a transitional period and whether it is in its interest. Any transition has to respect the regulatory and financial framework of the single market,” he said.
“As we said, we are talking about prolonging and extending EU legislation for a certain amount of time. That would mean we would have to continue with [such] things as the budget, supervision, judicial control and controls of EU rules and regulations. So that would have to continue to apply.” [...]
Full article on The Guardian
Introductory remarks by Michel Barnier at the press conference following the General Affairs Council (Article 50)
David Davis' opening remarks at the start of the fourth round of EU exit negotiations
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