Brexit deadlock: Theresa May urges EU to compromise
September 20, 2018
The EU and the UK look no closer to a deal, as UK Prime Minister Theresa May has ruled out a second referendum and has urged the EU to "evolve its position." A Brexit summit will be held in November, leaders announced.
Image: Reuters/L. Foeger
Advertisement
European leaders gathered in the Austrian city of Salzburg on Thursday for the second day of an informal summit. One of the main issues is the deadlocked negotiations on Brexit, the final agreement on which was supposed to be inked in October. On Thursday, however, EU leaders announced a special Brexit summit is to be held in November.
The other major talking points are immigration, a major policy point for Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, whose government holds the rotating EU presidency, and security in the bloc.
UK Prime Minister Theresa May told EU leaders on Wednesday that Britain has "put forward serious and workable proposals" and that it was now up to the EU to "respond in kind" and "evolve its position."
Deal or no deal? Brexit options boiled down
There's a spectrum of options on Britain's future relationship with the EU, each with a distinct set of advantages and disadvantages. While euroskeptic purists favor a clean "hard Brexit," others favor a softer landing.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R.Vieira/W.Rothermel
Hard or soft options
It's essentially a choice of a harder or softer Brexit. Harder prioritizes border control over trade. UK firms would pay tariffs to do business in the EU, and vice versa. The softest Brexit would see access to the single market, or at least a customs union, maintained. That would require concessions — including the payment of a hefty "divorce bill" — to which the UK has provisionally agreed.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R.Vieira/W.Rothermel
A leap into the unknown
Businesses have expressed concern about a "cliff edge" scenario, where Britain leaves the EU with no deal. Even if an agreement is reached at the EU bloc level, the worry is that it could be rejected at the last minute. Each of the 27 remaining countries must ratify the arrangements, and any might reject them. That could mean chaos for businesses and individuals.
If there is no agreement at all, a fully sovereign UK would be free to strike new trade deals and need not make concessions on the rights of EU citizens living in the UK or pay the financial settlement of outstanding liabilities. However, trade would be crippled. UK citizens in other parts of the EU would be at the mercy of host governments. There would also be a hard EU-UK border in Ireland.
Image: Imago
Divorce-only deal
The EU and the UK could reach a deal on Britain's exiting the bloc without an agreement on future relations. This scenario would still be a very hard Brexit, but would at least demonstrate a degree of mutual understanding. Trade agreements would be conducted, on an interim basis, on World Trade Organization rules.
Image: Fotolia/Jens Klingebiel
Limited arrangement, like with Canada
Most trade tariffs on exported goods are lifted, except for "sensitive" food items like eggs and poultry. However, exporters would have to show their products are genuinely "made in Britain" so the UK does not become a "back door" for global goods to enter the EU. Services could be hit more. The City of London would lose access to the passporting system its lucrative financial business relies on.
Under the Swiss model, the UK would have single market access for goods and services while retaining most aspects of national sovereignty. Switzerland, unlike other members of the European Free Trade Area (EFTA), did not join the European Economic Area (EEA) and was not automatically obliged to adopt freedom of movement. Under a bilateral deal, it agreed to do so but is still dragging its feet.
Image: picture-alliance/Anka Agency International
The Norway way
As part of the European Economic Area, Norway has accepted freedom of movement – something that no Brexit-supporting UK government would be likely to do. Norway still has to obey many EU rules and is obliged to make a financial contribution to the bloc while having no voting rights. Some see this as the worst of both worlds.
Image: dapd
A Turkey-style customs union
Turkey is the only major country to have a customs union with the EU, as part of a bilateral agreement. Under such an arrangement, the UK would not be allowed to negotiate trade deals outside the EU, instead having the bloc negotiate on its behalf. Many Brexiteers would be unwilling to accept this. It would, however, help minimize disruption at ports and, crucially, at the Irish border.
Image: Reuters/N. Hall
8 images1 | 8
What the key players said at the summit:
Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl told DW that while the EU member states disagreed on many things, there was "no friction when it comes to Brexit. There is a high degree of cohesion."
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar: Ireland is a country that obviously wants to avoid a no-deal scenario...[but] we are preparing for that, we are hiring extra staff and officials, putting in IT systems, we're ready for that eventuality should it occur."
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker: "It was interesting, it was polite, it was not aggressive. She [May] is doing her job."
EU Council President Donald Tusk: Despite progress in some areas, on the two thorniest issues of the Irish border and post-Brexit trade ties, "the UK's proposals will need to be reworked." He said a no-deal scenario was "still quite possible."
French President Emmanuel Macron: "We [the EU] need to continue to act as a group, make sure we approach this as the EU-27." He stressed that a "solution needs to be found, but it shouldn't jeopardize the coherence and the four freedoms of the single market."
Brexit as it stands
A major summit planned for October 18 was being treated as the last chance for a concrete deal for Brexit, which is supposed to go into effect on April 1. The November summit announced on Thursday is now seen as the deadline to reach a deal, which will have to be ratified by the EU legislature, all member states' parliaments, and the UK Parliament.
May has put paid to hints within her own government on a possible second referendum on Brexit, telling EU leaders that it is not an option.
The two main sticking points that remain unsolved are:how to regulate the border between Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK, and the Republic of Ireland, which is an independent EU member, as well as Britain's future trade negotiations with the EU. May told EU leaders that she won't accept an EU proposal for Northern Ireland to remain in the customs union while future trade ties are being negotiated.
Migration to the EU
EU leaders are also under pressure to come up with a compromise on immigration, after a joint summit in June produced a deal scant on details.
While most countries agree on strengthening the border control agency Frontex, they still disagree on suggestions to redistribute refugees proportionally throughout the bloc. Countries like Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary do not look likely to change their hard-line stance against this plan.
There are also disagreements across the bloc about which North African countries can be relied upon to set up schemes to stop migrants attempting the dangerous sea crossing to Europe, although many have praised Egypt for its efforts thus far.
European Council President Donald Tusk accused member states of playing "the migration blame game" and urged them to create a bloc-wide solution to the issue.
