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After a speech at a Catholic conference in Brussels, Barnier was asked how the EU would respond if the U.K. decides it wants to remain in the EU, potentially as the result of a second referendum. “If the U.K. changes its red lines, then we will adapt immediately,” he said, but added that “After [Brexit] it will be a third country, and like a third country it can ask to join the EU.” Barnier’s remarks seem to suggest that any reversal of Brexit could happen only once the U.K. has left. [...]
In an almost two-hour speech, Barnier warned that a no-deal Brexit would mean a “leap in the dark” for the 3 million EU citizens living in the U.K. and the 1.5 million British citizens in the EU.
“From the beginning we’ve wanted an agreement with the U.K., to put certainty where Brexit has created so much uncertainty and often anxiety,” he said.
Barnier said “we are near the end” of the negotiation on the Withdrawal Agreement but “difficult subjects,” namely the Irish border question, remain to be resolved.
Related on The Independent: Brexit deal on Irish border is ‘not close’, EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier says
A deal between Britain and the EU on the Irish border is not “close” despite hopes of a breakthrough, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator has warned.
Michel Barnier said there was “still a real point of divergence” on the Northern Ireland issue, after Theresa May called for a “review” mechanism to be attached to the EU’s planned backstop that would guarantee no hard border.
The warning came as Theresa May told her Cabinet that a deal ”would not be done at any cost”. [...]
Ireland’s government on Monday publicly rejected a proposal by Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab for Britain to be able to unilaterally pull out of the Irish ‘backstop’ regime after three months, suggesting such a policy would not be “worth the paper it was printed on”.
Mr Barnier told Belgian broadcaster RTBF on Tuesday: “For now, we are still negotiating and I am not, as I am speaking to you this morning, able to tell you that we are close to reaching an agreement, since there is still a real point of divergence on the way of guaranteeing peace in Ireland, that there are no borders in Ireland, while protecting the integrity of the single market.” [...]
Full article on The Independent