Theresa May could face more fights as European states tell Michel Barnier to toughen-up on Brexit trade deal
EU member states are not pleased with the agreements on the Irish border and want assurances on how Britain will follow EU rules post-Brexit
THERESA May is facing a fresh fight with Brussels after European countries told Michel Barnier to toughen up the trade part of the Brexit deal.
Member states are unhappy about the rushed UK-wide fudge on the Irish border and want stronger guarantees on how Britain will follow EU rules in future.
They are also demanding hard commitments on fishing access to British waters as part of a post-Brexit customs union and queried extending the transition.
On top of that the UK’s insistence on access to EU security databases and securing frictionless trade in an FTA are “serious problems” for the bloc.
Mr Barnier took the unusual step of personally updating ambassadors from the 27 EU countries amid fears some would baulk at the deal.
Sources said member states raised fishing, future UK immigration policy, services, aviation and environmental law as areas that need revisiting.
They also want to fine tune the wording on the bloc’s ‘evolution clause’ which says the EU will shift its position if the UK drops its red lines.
And capitals are only prepared to accommodate a pledge for trade that is “as frictionless as possible” given the UK’s red lines.
According to a diplomatic note, Mr Barnier told them in reply: “The UK does not accept all the consequences of its status as a third country.”
He added that Brussels would not compromise on what has been agreed in the withdrawal pact regardless of political developments in London.
An EU diplomat told The Sun: “The lack of clarity and a real future framework is troublesome for some Member States.”
Ambassadors from 25 member states spoke at the meeting – far more than the usual nucleus of eight who take a keen interest in Brexit.
The discussion raises the possibility that Mrs May will have to fend off more demands from Brussels at a time when she is fighting for her survival.
But no countries demanded any changes to the withdrawal agreement itself, and sources played down potential changes to the trade declaration.
A second diplomat said: “Obviously we have to be pragmatic. On the European side I don’t see any real blocks ahead.
“There are minor issues, but there was broad agreement that the trade outline was fine.”
EU and UK negotiators will hold two meetings this weekend to thrash out the wording of the final framework for a trade deal.
Brussels will then publish its latest draft of the text on Tuesday, with a view to it being rubber stamped by leaders at a special summit on the 25th.
An EU diplomat said leaders will still meet later this month regardless of developments in London and could switch attention to no deal planning.
They said: “Even if the whole thing explodes in Westminster, the leaders won’t say ‘OK, now we’ll take Sunday off’.”
The source added ambassadors had not raised the possibility of revisiting the terms of the Brexit deal at yesterday’s meeting.
They said: “The Commission have gone to the limits. There’s such a tight timescale there’s no room for such hypotheticals.”
The bombshell demands came as the Netherlands and Ireland joined Germany in warning Britain it won’t be able to renegotiate the withdrawal deal.
Dutch PM Mark Rutte said: “It is highly unlikely that we will make important changes to these proposals.
“We have talked about this for so long, everybody has been heavily involved.
“We will have a good look at parts of the proposals, but major changes seem unlikely to me.”
And Ireland’s Leo Varadkar added there was no appetite on the EU side to renegotiate the deal, predicting MPs will back it when “reality sinks in”.
He also said no deal would be so catastrophic for the UK that it would have to return to Brussels and accept the EU’s deal within a few weeks.
Meanwhile Austrian leader Sebastian Kurz urged rebellious British MPs to accept the offer on the table from Brussels.
He said: “It is a good deal for both sides, nobody has been cheated. This deal prevents a hard Brexit.
“Therefore it helps us in Europe, but even more so it helps Great Britain because a hard Brexit would hit Great Britain significantly more severely.”
And France’s finance minister warned the UK will face an “economic disaster” if it doesn’t accept the deal.
Bruno Le Maire branded eurosceptic politicians “lying and irresponsible” and said they should admit their vision for Britain won’t work.
He raged: “What Brexit shows is that the economic cost of leaving the single market is simply exorbitant.
“The British politicians who have argued for Brexit now have a choice between reneging on their absurd political promise or an economic disaster of which the British people will be the first victim.”
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