EU demands more Brexit clarity from May before move to trade

Bloomberg

Top European Union officials teamed up to send UK Prime Minister Theresa May a blunt message: Do more to flesh out Britain’s Brexit positions or put off trade talks for even longer.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, used a hearing in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, on Tuesday to all but extinguish any lingering hope that May might be given approval at an EU summit later this month to start negotiating the two sides’ future relationship. “We cannot talk about the future without any real clarity,” Juncker told EU lawmakers in Strasbourg, France. “The prime minister’s speech in Florence was conciliatory, but speeches are not negotiation positions.”
With the UK’s departure from the EU now 18 months away, officials have yet to come to an agreement even on the priority separation issues, let alone what a post-Brexit future will look like. While the prime minister’s speech in Italy last month started to break through the deadlock, EU officials say they are still in the dark about many details
on where the UK might be willing to compromise.
The hearing in Strasbourg preceded a vote by EU lawmakers on a resolution reiterating that “sufficient progress,” necessary for the start of trade talks, hasn’t yet been made. The assembly said it “awaits concrete proposals from the UK government” on a method to calculate its financial obligations to the bloc and “so far, the absence of any clear proposals has seriously impeded the negotiations,” according to
the resolution.
While the Parliament doesn’t have a formal say in the negotiations, it does have a veto over the entire Brexit deal at the end of the process, meaning that EU lawmakers’ views on the issue can’t be ignored. An overwhelming majority of lawmakers said a “major breakthrough” would be needed for EU governments to give the green light for discussions about the UK’s future relations with the bloc.
Barnier, speaking in Tuesday’s hearing, said “some clarifications” were still needed from the UK about its offer on protecting the rights of EU citizens in the UK and the role of the European Court of Justice.
“We need a consistent interpretation of the agreement on both sides of the Channel, that only the European Court of Justice can guarantee,” Barnier said. “We need to have a direct application of the withdrawal agreement.”
Negotiations between UK and EU officials resume in Brussels next week before the summit on October 19-20. If leaders refuse to endorse the start of discussions on a future relationship and a transitional arrangement, the UK may have to wait until the next summit in December. The UK will leave the EU in March 2019 with or without a deal.
Britain has made “considerable progress” in the negotiations so far and “the focus of the government is on the upcoming negotiating round,” a spokesperson for the UK’s Brexit department said.
The Parliament’s resolution includes a series of demands, including full European Court of Justice jurisdiction during a potential transition period, and over the withdrawal agreement.

‘UK making contingency plans for
no-deal Brexit’
Bloomberg

Brexit Secretary David Davis said the government is stepping up efforts to make sure the UK is prepared for a no-deal Brexit if there isn’t a breakthrough in talks.
“There is a determined exercise under way in Whitehall devoted to contingency arrangements so that we are ready for any outcome,” Davis said at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, England. “Not because it is what we seek but because it needs to be done.”
The European Union’s refusal to move talks on to trade, citing Britain’s refusal to recognise what it owes, is increasing the risk of Britain crashing out of the bloc with no deal, according to senior British officials. While the EU is pressing Davis for more clarity, the UK feels growing frustration that the bloc hasn’t specified exactly what it needs to move on.
Davis said while he hoped to reach a deal soon on the rights of European citizens living in each other’s jurisdictions, he would continue to challenge Brussels negotiators on the divorce bill.
He will go “line by line” through the EU’s claims,
he said.