May Sets out Transition Plan in Bid to Unlock Brexit Talks

Local Editor

To reassure business and reset the tone of stalled negotiations with Brussels, Prime Minister Theresa May set out a plan Friday to retain full access to the EU's single market for two years after Brexit.

But her proposals for such a transition, for meeting Britain's financial obligations and for protecting EU citizens' rights fell short of what the EU wanted.

EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier praised the speech for its "constructive spirit" but asked for more detail. Another official said it had left him "even more concerned."

In a speech at a 14th-century church in Florence, Italy, May appealed directly to EU leaders to unlock the talks, which have stalled over a series of issues, including the size of the bill Britain should pay as part of its divorce settlement.

She spent much of her 30-minute speech describing the similarities between Britain and the EU, saying that if the complicated talks to unravel more than 40 years of union should fail, the only beneficiaries would be those who oppose democracy, liberalism and free trade.

"During the implementation period, access to one another's markets should continue on current terms, and Britain also should continue to take part in existing security measures," May told an audience of Italian business leaders and diplomats.

Britain wants to move the talks forward and start addressing how a future relationship with the EU would work, a move May's government says is vital if they want to find agreement on the divorce bill.

But the EU has stood firm, refusing to discuss trading arrangements until "sufficient progress" is made on the first three issues - the financial settlement, the land border with EU member Ireland and the protection of expatriates' rights.

Beyond her vision for a transition, involving around two years of trading on the same terms, but no payments for access to the EU single market, May pledged to protect EU citizens' rights in Britain after Brexit, saying that decisions by the European Court of Justice would be taken into account by British courts.

On the financial settlement, she also said Britain would "honor commitments we have made during the period of our membership."

"I do not want our partners to fear that they will need to pay more or receive less over the remainder of the current budget plan as a result of our decision to leave," she said. British opposition lawmakers were not impressed, with the Labor Party saying the government was "no clearer about what our long-term relationship with the EU will look like."

Trade union leader Frances O'Grady said the prime minister was pretending that "we can have our cake and eat it."

It was never going to be an easy speech, with May struggling to appeal simultaneously to the EU, to business and to the supporters of Brexit in her own party who want to hold her to her pledge of a clean break with the bloc.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team