Clash over Brexit timetable as UK publishes more policy papers

­­­­­­­­­­­Bloomberg

Britain and the European Union are at odds over how soon the Brexit talks can pivot towards a trade deal as Theresa May’s government seeks to turn on the pressure by disclosing more policy details.
The UK government will publish five papers this week, with two dropping on Monday. The one that examined the treatment of goods said that Britain wants the “freest and most frictionless trade possible” and warned “it is in no-one’s interest to see disruption and uncertainty.”
The other called for a reciprocal agreement on confidentiality and the handling of information. Britain wants to ensure goods placed on the market before exit day can continue to be sold in the UK and EU afterward, one 9-page paper said. To avoid repeated compliance checks, the UK also proposed products that received approval before Brexit would still be valid afterward.
Just a week before negotiations are set to resume, the UK has adopted a provocative posture to shift the discussions away from the terms of separation as soon as October. May’s spokeswoman Alison Donnelly said on Monday that “both sides need to demonstrate a dynamic and flexible approach.”
The use of fighting words in the past has not budged the EU and, in a sign the UK will be disappointed again, Slovenian PM Miro Cerar told the Guardian newspaper that “the process will definitely take more time than we expected.”

Seeds of Discontent
Signs of fresh discord may unnerve investors after the pound last week underperformed all of its Group of 10 counterparts. By spelling out its demands, the UK wants to change the narrative that it’s been too vague and by doing so jolt the EU into talking trade sooner.
But that goal is unlikely to be achieved in the upcoming rounds of talks and “unsurprisingly, Brussels is insisting that the divorce must be settled first,” wrote Mujtaba Rahman, European managing director of Eurasia Group.
With the clock ticking down to the UK’s March 2019 departure, and the two sides clashing over many key issues, Brexit Secretary David Davis seems bent on reviving a debate over whether talks should run in parallel rather than in the strict order the EU has laid out.
Such an ambition will draw short shrift from the EU. Its chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, reiterated last week that the other 27 governments won’t allow trade talks to start until “sufficient progress” has been made resolving residency rights, the UK’s exit bill and the border with Ireland.
The original hope was to reach this milestone in October—in time for a summit of EU leaders—but that is now in doubt amid criticism within the EU of sluggish progress and a lack of detail from the British.
Later in the week, documents dealing with data protection, judicial cooperation and resolving post-Brexit disputes will come out.
The latter will prove the most contentious given May has made escaping oversight of European courts a red line while the EU sees a continued role for the European Court of Justice.