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Alberto Nardelli @AlbertoNardelli
, 3 tweets, 1 min read Read on Twitter
Much Ado About Nothing:

EU27 position on Chequers hasn’t changed buzzfeed.com/albertonardell…

EU27 position on single market & 4 freedoms hasn’t changed

Position on backstop hasn’t changed. Backstop, & not all details of future relationship, essential to crossing the line in March
Close security relationship, but no budging on four freedoms, is longstanding Merkel position – wrote this in April 2017 on how Berlin sees Brexit buzzfeed.com/albertonardell… - not much, if anything, has changed. Differences between 🇩🇪 & 🇫🇷 are mostly semantics, nada on substance
This whole debate sometimes reminds me of Cameron asking Merkel at his last EUCO after the Brexit referendum if she’d changed her mind about freedom of movement - and the UK prime minister’s continued inability to properly understand the German chancellor’s stance
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More from @AlbertoNardelli see all

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Brexit. Things are getting worse.

1. The withdrawal agreement is needed regardless of the shape of the future relationship. The withdrawal agreement on the table, including the backstop, will not be renegotiated. EU27 cannot be clearer on this point – and this is the key point.
2. Throughout these negotiations, so many problems have been created by N10’s inability & unwillingness to set realistic expectations, explain tradeoffs and communicate clearly. As the PM runs out of road, the confusion over the withdrawal agreement is the latest example
3. The political declaration allows for a full spectrum of future options, but it is not clear what kind of relationship the UK wants. This will require a proper debate on tradeoffs (and years of negotiation). However, whatever that option: you need the withdrawal agreement
Read 7 tweets
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About last night:

1) May went to the meeting seeking legally-binded assurances with half-baked proposals to placate hard Brexiteers & DUP

These have been rejected repeatedly for obvious reasons. Backstop is an insurance policy not “a trap.” Not EU27 problem many MPs ignore this
2) May was asked by several leaders, and, I am told, most emphatically by Chancellor Merkel: 'what is it that you want?'

The prime minister was unable to provide an answer to this question with any precision.
That is where May is at in a nutshell: Nearly two years after triggering article 50, the UK does not have an answer to the question, "what do you want?"

There are also concerns that the UK – across the political spectrum – has no idea what kind of future relationship it wants.
Read 7 tweets
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EUCO draft Brexit conclusions: I understand that paragraph 5 (EU stands ready to examine whether any further assurances can be provided..) has gone.
Par. 1, which wasn't in square brackets, is of course unchanged: "The Union stands by this agreement and intends to proceed with its ratification. It is not open for renegotiation."
Par 2 unchanged: EU reiterates wish for 'as close as possible partnership.." 'stands ready to embark on prep immediately after signature of WA to ensure negotiations can start asap after withdrawal'. Understand 27 discussed starting prep work on future deal as soon as UK ratifies
Read 12 tweets

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Don’t know which Europeans Mr. Hannan is speaking to but I haven’t met anyone in Brussels or in EU capitals who is unhappy with the Commission approach & I’ve spoken to a lot of them. #Brexit
In addition, no-one in the #EU is threatening the UK (I wld challenge Hannan to point to one threat that has come from a leading EU politician or negotiator), nor are they stopping the UK from leaving. #Brexit
The EU have been clear from the start that there are many trade models available to the UK & the UK have ruled most of them out. If it feels like the UK has little room for manoeuvre it is because the government painted itself into a corner. #Brexit
Read 17 tweets
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No alternative Brexit plan yet from the ERG. But @SteveBakerHW tells PA May risks "catastrophic split" in party if she doesn't chuck Chequers. Says 80 MPs ready to vote in down in Commons 1/3
@SteveBakerHW Warning comes as @BorisJohnson sketches out a domestic policy platform that will infuriate No10/Hammond & delight grassroots: No more tax hikes under a [Johnson] Tory govt. (no mention of the Treasury warning of a £80bn no-deal black hole in public finances) 2/3
@SteveBakerHW @BorisJohnson Baker warning comes after significant @FT splash saying EU leaders will give Barnier new instructions to help close a Brecit deal at informal Salzburg summit later this month: lifeline for No 10's Chequers plan >> ft.com/content/477ac3…
Read 4 tweets
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EU would allow single market for goods in return for UK commitment to align on wider level playing field issues - explained by @instituteforgov here instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/eu-…
@instituteforgov we long argued that the EU's concerns about level playing field was a UK lever for "bespokery" - their version of Canada + instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/eu-canada…
@instituteforgov but that would mean the UK effectively trading political influence and free movement of services for end of free movement of labour...
Read 3 tweets
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Some quick thoughts on #chequers outcome...
1. There is more realism in it than we’ve seen before from UK government (though that’s not saying much!) - so, to that extent, hopefully a step forward. However...
2...still massive unresolved questions about acceptability to EU (it still reads like cherry picking and an attempt to divide four freedoms), deliverability (given the sheer complexities), and desirability (especially around impact on services - a real and profound concern)...
3. But perhaps key point is this - if this becomes the UK starting point in negotiations, it is surely game on for those who would prefer to see a full single market/customs union outcome.
Read 4 tweets
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So @MichelBarnier
may have appeared to pull his punches today, but don't be fooled. He stuck firmly to EU guns.

This is a key word "de-dramatise" and you'll hear it a lot more - and it is not good news for Mrs May. Here's why /1
If EU sticks to guns on cherry-picking, then that leaves UK with basic FTA...and that means an Irish sea goods border.

When Barnier says "de-dramatise" he means May and Davis need to give over on their contention that such a border is a threat to UK constitutional integrity /2
So when Barnier uses this word, it's code for "the only compromise we need here is by the UK" on the question of the east-west border that would be thrown up by hiving of Northern Ireland into separate regulatory orbit. Something May has said is "unacceptable". /3
Read 9 tweets
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This is gonna be long, but I think it's worth it. A well-regarded twitter poster, let’s call him Giorgio, has recently publish a thread stating among other things as follows. “The pathways to stopping or delaying Brexit are blocked.
But once the mandate is discharged, the pathways to UK rejoining, or being in a close association agreement with EU, within the single market and customs union, will be open, with no obstacles.”
This approach annoys me for two reasons, one because Giorgio seems to be attempting to cajole Remainers to put all activity on hold until we actually leave the #EU.
Read 17 tweets

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