NEW: This Is What The EU Thinks Of Boris Johnson’s Brexit Proposals buzzfeed.com/albertonardell…
EU27 diplomats were briefed yesterday on the UK's Brexit proposals, and on the latest state of talks following a meeting between Barclay and Barnier - these are the main points:
The SPS document is "not detailed." It is a one-pager with an annex listing two sets of legislation, of EU rules that would apply to Northern Ireland after Brexit and a second list outlines EU legislation that wouldn’t apply, requiring checks to take place away from the border
On customs, the UK is not proposing legally operative solutions but concepts that to further develop after Brexit during a transition period. There would be a customs and regulatory border in this scenario, with checks away from the border, new technologies and procedures.
EU27 diplomats were told that some of the ideas the UK was proposing were not compatible with the bloc’s customs code and EU law.
The French representative at the briefing said the idea the 27 could agree on general concepts to be developed during the transition should be “clearly and openly discarded”. The same diplomat stated that a legally operative solution was required.
The EU27 diplomats were also informed of talks between Barclay and Barnier. Barclay basically repeated the main points of the speech he gave in Madrid (see @pmdfoster tweets) stating that the backstop must go and a solution should be found during the transition period
@pmdfoster Barnier made clear that he disagreed with Barclay’s assessment, and noted that the UK was “backtracking” on the withdrawal agreement and the onus was on Britain to come up with legally operative solutions.
@pmdfoster The UK, via David Frost, also explained that it had yet to set out its full approach and that further papers outlining this would be shared with the EU at the “right moment”.
