Theresa May has 18 months to secure Brexit deal, says Brussels top negotiator Michel Barnier, as he tells Brits to ‘keep calm and negotiate’
The EU veteran also said the UK could not "cherry pick" what it wanted from Brexit talks
THE EU’s chief Brexit negotiator tried to heap pressure on Theresa May by insisting she has only 18 months to do an exit deal.
And in a cheeky move, Michel Barnier also teased Britain by paraphrasing our famous World War Two motto by saying: “We are ready. Keep calm, and negotiate”.
Seeing the comments as a clear attempt at provocation, senior Tory MPs rounded on the former French foreign minister to accuse him of “grandstanding”.
Mr Barnier insisted the whole Brexit package must be wrapped up by October 2018 to allow six months for parliaments across Europe to rubber stamp it.
Under EU rules, ‘Article 50’ exit talks already have a two year deadline.
Giving his first press conference in Brussels, Mr Barnier said: “Time will be short when we receive notification.
“It is clear the period of actual negotiations will be shorter than two years.”
Laying down a series of early strictures, he also said Britain’s exit deal must be worse than the current set up, adding: “Third countries can never have the same rights and benefits”.
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He warned the UK that the EU was "ready" to start talks as soon as Article 50 is triggered
And Mr Barnier repeated other EU leaders’ warnings that there would be “no cherry picking” on the EU’s four freedoms - of movement, goods, services and capital.
He also tried to set out conditions on a transitional deal wanted by Mrs May to avoid a cliff edge when Britain leaves.
Mr Barnier said there would be “some point and usefulness” in a halfway house arrangement for a while after Brexit, but only if “if it is a path towards a partnership” that the EU27 agrees with.
Hitting back, Commons Treasury Committee boss Andrew Tyrie dubbed Mr Barnier’s intervention as “calculated to raise the political temperature at a time when he should be lowering it”.
Mr Tyrie added: “He should have the economic wellbeing of Europe and its citizens as his overriding objective, not grandstanding to Brussels”.
Mr Barnier said he would work to uphold the unity of the EU throughout the Brexit talks
But resisting Mr Barnier’s pressure, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson insisted the timetable that Mrs May laid out was “absolutely adequate”.
Downing Street also refused to rise to the provocation.
The PM’s official spokesman said: “We are entering into these negotiations in a spirit of goodwill, and we are seeing that goodwill reflected in the conversations we are having with our European partners”.