‘Slew of UK papers will not aid Brexit’

Bloomberg

Martin Schulz, the former head of the European Parliament who is leading Germany’s Social Democratic Party into next month’s election, said that the UK government risks further complicating Brexit negotiations by producing a series of position papers for the talks.
Schulz, who’s trailing in his race to unseat Chancellor Angela Merkel, also signaled he wants to keep her handling of Germany’s refugee influx out of the campaign. His comments on the sidelines of an event in Berlin are the latest evidence that the election in the European Union’s dominant country is being fought at the liberal, pro-EU political center.
That includes giving little ground to the UK over Brexit. Schulz said a customs union should be discussed if it could “help to overcome the main problems” in the talks, including the free movement of goods, capital, services and people, but he criticized the flurry of proposals coming out of Prime Minister Theresa May’s government. “If the United Kingdom, if the government in London every day suggest another proposal, this is for sure, in my eyes, not meaningful,” Schulz said in English late on Tuesday.