May in yet another trip to Brussels to salvage her Brexit deal
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British Prime Minister Theresa May makes another trip to Brussels on Wednesday, hoping European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker may prove more yielding than of late to salvage her Brexit deal.
With Britain set to jolt out of the world’s biggest trading bloc in 37 days unless May can either persuade the British parliament or the European Union to budge, officials were cautious on the chances of a breakthrough.
The key sticking point is the so-called backstop, an insurance policy to prevent the return of extensive checks on the sensitive border between EU member Ireland and the British province of Northern Ireland.
The European Commission has issued a fresh warning that it will not reopen the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement.
The meeting follows talks yesterday between the the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, and Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay and Attorney General Geoffrey Cox.
Afterwards, Mr Barclay described their discussions on the issue of the Northern Ireland backstop – which remains the main stumbling block to a deal – as “productive”.
Meanwhile former EU Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso said it’s not too late for the UK and European Union to find a deal acceptable to both sides that would avoid a ‘hard Brexit’ on March 29.
Speaking at a Euronews event at London’s Saatchi Gallery, Barroso said he expected that EU negotiators would be willing to move, although they would not go as far as reopening the so-called Withdrawal Agreement, already approved by both sides.
“From what I know from the European Union, the Europeans will make some accommodation,” he told Euronews political editor Darren McCaffrey. “It should be possible with some legal creativity and imagination to find some kind of compromise.”
