No Brexit breakthrough after Juncker-May talks

World
Europe

02:00

With less than six weeks until Brexit day, May met European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker hoping for movement on the "Irish backstop" issue – after EU leaders insisted they would not restart negotiations.

Fears are growing that Britain could crash out without a deal, and there was fresh drama just before May headed to Brussels as three of her MPs resigned from her Conservative party in protest over Brexit to join a new independent group of lawmakers.

A joint statement from May and Juncker called their meeting "constructive," striking a slightly more positive tone than when the two leaders met a fortnight ago.

UK PM Theresa May (L) is welcomed by the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker prior to a bilateral meeting on Brexit talks at the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, February 20, 2019. /VCG Photo

"The two leaders agreed that talks had been constructive, and they urged their respective teams to continue to explore the options in a positive spirit," the statement said.

Emerging from about an hour of discussion with Juncker, May told British media that she again pressed for "legally binding changes" to a deal she agreed with the EU in November so that a "backstop" policy on the Irish border would not bind Britain indefinitely to keeping EU rules.

It is this part of the treaty, intended to avoid new trouble in Northern Ireland, which the British parliament rejected last month. That pitched the country toward the exit on March 29 without a safety net – and left May scrambling to secure concessions both in Brussels and from lawmakers in her own party and others.

"I've underlined the need for us to see legally binding changes to the backstop which ensure it cannot be indefinite," May said. "That's what is required if a deal is going to pass the House of Commons... Time is of the essence."

Fuel pump at Fitzpatrick's Fuels and Hardware station marks the exact borderline between Northern Ireland (L) and Ireland (R) near the border town of Clones, Ireland, October 17, 2016. /VCG Photo

She said there had been progress and her Brexit minister would be back in Brussels on Thursday, along with the attorney general Geoffrey Cox. It is he whom the EU must find a way to persuade to change his view that the backstop might never end.

People close to the negotiations say discussions have been focusing on what May and Juncker in a joint statement called "appropriate legal assurance to both sides."

The EU has refused to reopen the treaty or to add new text that would anger Ireland by putting a time limit on the backstop or giving London a unilateral right to quit an arrangement that would see Britain obliged to follow EU trade and industry rules until a better way is found, probably using technology, to keep the border open while letting the UK diverge from EU standards.

Various kinds of text, focusing on how a future trading relationship may work after a status quo transition period, have been discussed, officials say. But EU leaders, many of whom will meet May during a weekend summit with Arab governments in Egypt, want assurances she can deliver parliamentary ratification for any new deal before they nail down their concessions.

Former Conservative Party and now Independent MPs Anna Soubry (bottom row C), Heidi Allen (bottom row 2L) and Sarah Wollaston (bottom row 2R) sitting in their seats in the House of Commons, with the former Labour Party members of the new Independent Group of MPs Ann Coffey (bottom row R), Luciana Berger (bottom row 2L) and (top row L-R) Angela Smith, Chuka Ummuna, Chris Leslie and Gavin Shuker as they attend the weekly Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) session in the House of Commons, February 20, 2019. /VCG Photo

That kind of brinkmanship could, many officials say, lead to a delay in Brexit as the only option for May to avoid running out of time to pass the necessary laws in the next month.

EU summit chair Donald Tusk said on Wednesday: "If Britain fails to prepare some sensible option on time, then there is always a possibility to extend these negotiations in time. This would be better than a divorce without agreement."

(With inputs from AFP, Reuters)