May Heads to EU on Wednesday to Push For Brexit Breakthrough

By Staff, Agencies

British Prime Minister Theresa May will meet top EU official Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels on Wednesday, pressing on with efforts to find a way to get their Brexit deal through Britain’s parliament.

A raft of meetings between EU and British officials in recent days has yet to produce a breakthrough after May’s parliament resoundingly defeated the divorce deal she had agreed with the bloc in November.

While May’s spokesman said the meeting was a “significant” part of a process of engagement with the EU, sources said it was far from certain that this week’s meetings would come up with a concrete way to break the impasse in the London parliament.

The main sticking point is the so-called backstop, an insurance policy to prevent the return of extensive checks on the sensitive border between EU member Ireland and the British province of Northern Ireland.

“The EU 27 will not reopen the withdrawal agreement, we cannot accept a time limit to the backstop or a unilateral exit clause,” said Margaritis Schinas, spokesman for the EU’s executive European Commission.

“Further talks will be held this week to see whether a way through can be found that would gain the broadest possible support in the UK parliament and respect the guidelines agreed by the European Council,” he told a regular news briefing.

“We are listening and working with the UK government ... for an orderly withdrawal of the UK from the EU on March 29.”

May’s spokesman again said it was the prime minister’s intention to persuade the EU to reopen the divorce deal.

“There is a process of engagement going on. Tomorrow is obviously a significant meeting between the prime minister and President Juncker as part of that process,” the spokesman told reporters.

Britain’s Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay and Attorney General Geoffrey Cox met the bloc’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier in Brussels on Monday evening and were due back in the EU’s political hub again mid-week.