U.K. Pushes Citizens' Rights to Advance Brexit Talks -- Update
October 19 2017 - 8:44AM
Dow Jones News
By Jenny Gross, Valentina Pop and Laurence Norman
BRUSSELS--British Prime Minister Theresa May will Thursday make
a pitch to European Union leaders on guarantees for EU citizens
living in the U.K., hoping to revive stalled Brexit talks by
shifting the focus away from a deadlock over money.
But European officials say her words won't be enough to break
the impasse. Negotiations are running in circles: Officials from
the other 27 European countries want more specifics on how much the
U.K. is willing to pay as part of its divorce settlement before
talks can progress to Britain's future trade relationship with the
EU but London doesn't want to yield on money until it has
guarantees on Britain's future trading relationship.
Slow progress at what was supposed to be a key moment shows how
May's political weakness is hampering talks, sowing uncertainty for
businesses in the U.K. With less than a year-and-a-half until the
U.K. is expected to leave the bloc, any failure to reach a deal is
likely to cause enormous disruptions for businesses that rely on
unrestricted trade between the U.K. and the EU. Such a scenario
could pose big risks to the U.K. and European economies.
Several months into talks, negotiations have been limited to
terms of Britain's departure from the EU: How much money it owes
the bloc, the treatment of three million EU citizens living in the
U.K and the one million Britons living in the EU, and how Brexit
will affect the border between Northern Ireland, which is part of
the U.K., and Ireland. Mrs. May had hoped to move beyond divorce
issues to start negotiating the future trade relationship this
month.
She now hopes that her offer on rights for EU citizens will
inject new energy into the process during a two-day summit of EU
leaders, enabling talks to move to trade and Britain's two-year
transitional arrangement out of the bloc. In an open letter to EU
nationals, Mrs. May wrote that she wants to make it as easy as
possible for EU citizens living in the U.K. to stay and that
Brussels and London are in "touching distance" of reaching an
agreement on the issue.
Mrs. May, arriving at the summit, said the leaders would discuss
the progress made in Brexit negotiations and set plans for the
weeks ahead. "I particularly, for example, want to see an urgency
in reaching an agreement on citizens' rights," she said. In a
letter published Thursday, she said EU citizens in the U.K. had
made a huge contribution to the U.K. and that the government wants
them to stay.
A senior U.K. government official said Mrs. May will tell EU
leaders over dinner Thursday that she wants them to commit to swift
progress on negotiations, including on the issue of the rights of
EU citizens, so that talks can move to the next phase. But EU
diplomats said a number of issues remained outstanding, including
what role the European Court of Justice would play in protecting
the rights of EU citizens living in the U.K.
Beyond the issue of EU citizens, the U.K. and the EU are
furthest apart on the issue of money, a senior EU diplomat said.
"Is it a question of Europe accelerating the talks? No, the ball is
still in the British court," the official said.
British officials said Mrs. May won't budge on the issue of
money at the summit. After poor election results in June, in which
Mrs. May's Conservatives lost their majority in Parliament, Mrs.
May has faced additional pressure from euroskeptics within her
cabinet and party who want her to take a more hard-line
approach.
"We understand the domestic difficulties, but that's not our
problem," an EU official said. The official said the EU needed more
specifics on how much the U.K. was willing to pay each year as part
of its settlement.
The next opportunity for talks to advance is an EU summit
planned for December. But Another EU diplomat said ahead of this
week's summit that even December may be too early for talks to move
on to the next stage. "It's 50-50 in my view," the official said.
"But I do get the collective sense of expectation and hope [of]
'Let's now aim at December at the European level.'"
For talks to advance by year-end, Mrs. May must put recent
commitments into official negotiating positions, said European
Council President Donald Tusk, who represents EU leaders. He said
he didn't expect a breakthrough at the summit.
Emre Peker contributed to this article.
Write to Jenny Gross at jenny.gross@wsj.com, Valentina Pop at
valentina.pop@wsj.com and Laurence Norman at
laurence.norman@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 19, 2017 08:29 ET (12:29 GMT)
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