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Nick Gutteridge
@nick_gutteridge
, 3 tweets, 1 min read Read on Twitter
EU sources say today's 2.5hr hour meeting between PM Johnson's Brexit negotiator David Frost and Michel Barnier's deputy Stephanie Riso yielded little. The UK turned up with a team of customs experts to 'run through' alternatives to the backstop but presented nothing new.
One EU source says: 'I really cannot say where this is going. It's hard to decipher what is going on, even after hours of talks. The UK can show up with 50 experts but we need proposals and we do not have them.' Mr Frost will return for further talks on Friday.
EU ambassadors also met today for an update from Mr Barnier. They too were told there are no new UK proposals on the backstop. A senior EU diplomat said that given the political situation in Britain and a looming election, Member States don't expect a detailed plan any time soon.
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Nick Gutteridge
@nick_gutteridge
1/ The UK tabled a 4th technical paper yesterday building on its plans for trade in agri-food (SPS) goods as part of an alternative backstop. It focusses on the movement of agricultural products from Great Britain into Northern Ireland, which would be following some EU SPS rules.
2/ It covers the processes and checks companies moving goods across the Irish Sea in that direction, into an all-Ireland agri-food zone, would have to go through. In that sense it builds on work already done in the current backstop, which includes 'de-dramatised' SPS controls.
3/ The reasoning is that if livestock and animal and plant derived products coming from GB are cleared as compliant before they arrive in NI they can circulate freely across the whole island (and potentially wider Single Market) without needing to be checked at the border itself.
Read 11 tweets
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Nick Gutteridge
@nick_gutteridge
1/ A few of us caught up with Labour MPs Stephen Kinnock and Caroline Flint yesterday evening after they met Michel Barnier. They said the EU chief negotiator was 'on good form' and full of questions about their 'MPs for a deal' group. Here's a summary of what they had to say:
2/ Barnier asked them about parliamentary arithmetic and what pressure their grouping can bring to bear on the two main parties. They told him about 20-30 Labour MPs are now ready to vote for a deal. Barnier also asked about the implications of the Benn act for another extension.
3/ Instructively, they said that it was Barnier who suggested holding the meeting with them. Some EU officials have privately expressed regret that Brussels has neglected contacts with moderate pro-deal MPs at the expense of talking largely to the main party leaderships.
Read 16 tweets
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Nick Gutteridge
@nick_gutteridge
MSM reporting for duty here 🙋‍♂️Tytti Tuppurainen, representing the Finnish presidency of the EU Council, kicks off today's EU Parliament Brexit debate by warning: 'We have to acknowledge that currently a No Deal on 31 October is a quite likely outcome.'
She says: 'In July, the UK got a new Govt and a new PM. Unfortunately it is increasingly clear that this has not helped to clarify the situation on the UK's negotiation position. As the deadline of Oct 31 is fast approaching we are faced with more rather than less uncertainty.'
Jean-Claude says that at his meeting with Boris Johnson the UK PM 'assured us he continues to want an agreement but whatever happens the UK will leave the EU on the 31 October with or without an agreement. That's why the risk of a No Deal is palpable.'
Read 22 tweets

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Peter Foster
@pmdfoster
So Q I hear being posed in Brussels and Whitehall: as @BorisJohnson enters the Westminster firestorm, does he still have credibility to do a #Brexit deal ahead of Oct 31?

In short, it looks very hard, as I argue here after asking around.

1/thread

telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/…
@BorisJohnson "Technical talks" continue in Brussels today, but not even, we are told, at the level of David Frost, the PM's sherpa.

Throughout #Brexit technical talks have always been a byword for marking time in the hope that something better shows up. See negotiations passim. /2
@BorisJohnson On substance the two sides really are comparing apples and oranges.

In a sentence, the UK wants a trade border in Ireland to resolve the #Brexit trilemma. The Irish do not. /3
Read 17 tweets
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katya adler
@BBCkatyaadler
EU politicians welcome the serious tone used by PM in Dublin today when spoke of importance of making deal with EU, avoiding no deal #Brexit BUT EU contacts tell me they await a change in actions not just rhetoric /1
The PMs main #Brexit envoy, David Frost, expected back in Brussels on Weds. So far EU says he’s been discussing reducing backstop commitments rather than proposing st that could realistically replace the backstop /2
Government floated idea of all-Ireland agricultural area but EU don’t consider this a serious proposal bc only covers 30% of cross-border trade. EU will see on Weds if PM’s negotiator brings additional ideas. If not EU diplomats say it’ll be clear PM not seriously negotiating /3
Read 6 tweets
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Tony Connelly
@tconnellyRTE
EU source says that technical talks in Brussels between Boris Johnson's chief Brexit negotiator David Frost and the European Commission have just ended and that talks will resume again on Friday
Source was reticent on content, but I understand the discussions focussed more on the future relationship and less so on the Irish border (as these were technical talks there was a degree of stopping and starting as different officials entered discussions)
My impression is that no formal "concrete" text was put forward on the backstop at today's meeting. On the future relationship London has said it wants a more straightforward FTA with the EU and wants to dump the level-playing field provisions of the Withdrawal Agreement
Read 3 tweets
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Jon Stone
@joncstone
UK's new Brexit negotiator David Frost heading to Brussels for meetings with Michel Barnier’s team today and tomorrow, despite Boris Johnson saying backstop had to be scrapped before there could be any talks independent.co.uk/news/uk/politi…
UK officials say the meetings aren’t negotiations, but merely “introductory” and an opportunity to lay out the prime minister's position (over two days and in three separate meetings)
Obviously by this strict definition there haven’t been any Brexit negotiations for a looooong time
Read 3 tweets
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⚢⚧🌸Sakura No Seirei🌸
@SakuraNoSeirei
#Brexit news for today:

Nigel Adams, Minister for Wales, and Governement whip has resigned the #Cabinet over #TheresaMay's way forward.

1/n
You can hear #TheresaMay's reaction from here

2/n
So the splitting of the #ToryParty continues. Where will it end? And can we expect resignations from #Labour if #Corbyn is seen as giving up too much to #TheresaMay during the discussions tonight.

3/n
Read 92 tweets
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the3million
@The3Million
1/ Dear @eucopresident,
With #Brexit divorce talks stalling it is now high time to look after #The5Million children of the EU - the 3.6m EU citizens in the UK & 1.2m @BritishInEurope consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press…
2/ "[...] the report on the state of the negotiations that I got from Michel Barnier today, as well as yesterday's debate in the House of Commons, give me no grounds for optimism before tomorrow's European Council on Brexit." you said today. After 844 days #inLimbo we are scared
3/ The no-deal preparedness notes published by the @EU_Commission on July 19th effectively told us that there will be no agreement in place, that we should prepare for no deal and that we will have to fend for ourselves aided by information provided by our embassies
Read 8 tweets

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