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Kevin Hjortshøj O'Rourke @kevinhorourke
, 3 tweets, 1 min read Read on Twitter
"The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, is viewed as unlikely to shift from his rigid approach to negotiations unless there is consensus among the most powerful EU states."

theguardian.com/politics/2018/…
Er...it would actually require consensus among all 27, since it is the 27 who have given M. Barnier his marching orders.

Europe is not just a game played between "big" countries.
Rather than wasting their time in bilaterals, HMG needs to get down to serious negotiation with the representative of the 27, and that is Barnier.
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More from @kevinhorourke see all

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@MichelBarnier , @WeyandSabine , and everyone else involved, including on the UK side, deserves huge credit for getting the process to this stage: many congratulations. Given how many red lines had to be navigated it is a massive achievement.
Attention in the UK will focus on the imperfections of the deal but those are merely the reflection of the political red lines - leave the EU, leave the SM, no customs border between NI and GB - that negotiators had to work with.
What Barnier and colleagues have achieved is to construct a pathway towards an orderly Brexit, something that has not always seemed likely. And if a future HMG changes their red lines, the future relationship could be very close indeed.
Read 4 tweets
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@davidallengreen is of course right: if HMG reneges on the backstop it previously agreed this may well lead to a no deal Brexit, considerable economic damage to Member States including Ireland, and the very hard border the backstop was designed to avoid.
ft.com/content/0df643…
Does it follow that the EU was wrong to push the backstop? I don't think so. Avoiding a hard border was identified as one of the 3 key divorce issues and understandably so given the stakes. And HMG displayed bad faith on the issue throughout.
They clearly intended to use the Irish border issue to force the EU to accept no border controls anywhere, despite HMG being free to do trade deals with others, diverging in terms of regulations and all the rest of it. They were incredibly cynical.
Read 7 tweets
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Just a quick reminder. On the backstop, HMG has not only signed up to the December Joint Report, it also agreed in March that...
"a legally operative version of the “backstop” solution for the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, in line with paragraph 49 of the Joint Report, should be agreed as part of the legal text of the Withdrawal Agreement, to apply unless and until another solution is found"
In line with Paragraph 49, NOT in line with Paragraphs 49 and 50.

And NOT temporary: it is to apply unless and until another solution is found.

This concession in March is too often ignored. The source is here:

ec.europa.eu/commission/sit…
Read 4 tweets

Related threads

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#Brexit #thread
1/ If you don’t follow Brexit every day, here’s some advice. Let go of any illusions that this drama is about trade protocols, residency rights or the status of the Irish border. Brexit is the story of a proud former imperial power undergoing a mid-life crisis
2/ The rest of the world is left listening to Britain’s therapy session as they drone on about their ex-spouse, unable to see, admit or address their own flaws.
3/ The promise of Brexit was that it would make Britain feel big again. “Britain is special,” the Brexiteers assured British voters, who cast their ballots accordingly. But Brexit has proven that for the first time in modern history, Britain is small.
Read 22 tweets
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#Brexit: Theresa May presenta le alternative dopo che il governo ha dato il suo consenso all'accordo con l'Ue.

1) Il mio accordo
2) Brexit senza accordo
3) Nessuna Brexit

Tutto come previsto.
May: l'intesa del governo è un "passo decisivo che ci permette di andare avanti e finalizzare l'accordo" con l'Ue -> abbiamo rischiato grosso

"E' una decisione che è fermamente nell'interesse nazionale" -> caos no-deal

Ci sono "di fronte giorni difficili" -> Camera dei Comuni
NIgel Farage: il peggior accordo della storia. Tutti i ministri Brexiteers si dimettano subito
Read 12 tweets
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(1 of 6) On Brexit from a recent newletter: <quote> A decision on Brexit is solely the U.K.’s to make – at least that is what the EU would have everyone believe. The two sides are giving talks another go today and tomorrow in Brussels.
(2 of 6) The European Union thinks the outlines of a deal are in place, and that it’s on London to decide between what’s on the table and leaving in March without a deal.
(3 of 6) For their respective parliaments to ratify the deal by March, an agreement probably needs to be reached by December, according to EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier.
Read 6 tweets
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EU diplomats shrug at what they view as U.K. hysteria over Canada+ or Chequers #Brexit debate. The EU says the choice was never the UK’s alone 1
EU viewsChequers as a U.K. government position. Not an end in itself. Brussels aim: to navigate between Chequers and EU red lines.. 2
Accusation I often hear in Brussels is that U.K. Brexit negotiators are fine wordsmiths but that there’s often little meaning behind the words 3
Read 19 tweets
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1/ A short thread on Liam Fox and his transatlantic connections:
Atlantic Bridge: desmog.co.uk/atlantic-bridge.
This links with climate denying billionaire & Tory donor Michael Hintze. Koch bros funded ALEC and Heritage Foundation in the USA, & Gove & Johnson
#TrumpProtest #Brexit
2/ Fox has held repeated meetings with the Heritage Foundation, funded by the Koch Brothers & known for supporting climate science denial and being highly influential in shaping the new Trump administration. It also has many other ties with Tory Brexiters.
desmog.co.uk/liam-fox
3/ Hedge Fund billionaire & Tory donor Michael Hintze funded Atlantic Bridge & is a key funder of UK climate science denial think-tank the Global Warming Policy Foundation founded by Nigel Lawson & based at #55TuftonSt.
desmog.co.uk/global-warming…
Read 7 tweets
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In Ireland for a two day #brexit download.

Michel Barnier already trowelling it on a bit thick with the EU family stuff... no doubt the Greeks feel that warm glow; and Mr Macron as he does his Eurozone reboot. Nord Stream II anyone?
Barnier goes on to say that the EU has so far “not received any workable solutions” so is sticking to the backstop as drafted.

That’s a goods border in Irish Sea and turning Northern Ireland into a regulatory enclave of the EU. /2
U.K. sources clear this cannot fly.

We saw what happened in Dec. DUP went ballistic and Sturgeon piled in.

So what are solutions? /3
Read 7 tweets

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