Prime Minister Theresa May received less than glowing praise for her Brexit plan on Wednesday, with top EU official Donald Tusk saying Britain must rework its proposals for Northern Ireland and trade.
The prime minister foreshadowed the argument she will make to the other EU leaders over dinner this evening in an article in Die Welt, published on Wednesday morning, which said that the proposed backstop was “unacceptable” because it did not respect “the constitutional and economic integrity of the UK”.
The European Union’s top officials face intense pressure in the coming weeks to seal a divorce deal and a plan for future ties with Britain to avert a chaotic exit in March.
In effect, the Salzburg gathering has become the first in an expected series of three summits in successive months to finalise London and Brussels’ break-up.
EU negotiator Michel Barnier insisted Tuesday that the long-planned October 18 summit in Brussels remains the “moment of truth” for his team and his British counterpart.
But he appeared to tacitly accept that more talks would follow, when he said of October: “We will see if an accord is within reach and we’ll see if the Irish issue is solved.”
By “Irish issue” the French official meant efforts to ensure that Britain’s decision to leave the union does not result in the reimposition of a “hard border” between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic.
Theresa May will reject Michel Barnier’s revised Irish backstop border proposals at the Salzburg summit because the European Union is still insisting on customs checks down the Irish Sea if the two sides cannot strike a free trade agreement after Brexit.
Hours before the British prime minister was due to try to sell her plan to the other European Union leaders, summit chairman Tusk repeated criticism of her proposals for future customs arrangements and for the border between the British province of Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland.
Mr Tusk, speaking ahead of an informal European Council meeting in Salzburg, said that although there had been progress in the negotiations, time was beginning to run out and the British Government has many areas to address in its proposed option.
He has therefore called for an emergency summit to take place in November to finalise the details of a future deal.
