Britain must move in Brexit negotiations, Germany says

 

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas attends the weekly cabinet in Berlin, Germany, July 18, 2018. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

 

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said in a media interview published on Wednesday that the British government needs to get moving in Brexit negotiations, including on the Northern Ireland border issue.

 

On Tuesday Brexit minister Dominic Raab said Britain had put forward a "real offer" to a win a deal on leaving the European Union by October, suggesting the government would not shift much from its agreed negotiating stance.

 

But Maas told the Funke group of newspapers: "In order for the departure to be carried out in as orderly a way as possible, the British government will need to move."

 

"On the one hand on the issue of the border between Northern Ireland and EU member the Irish Republic and secondly on the undivided internal market, where Britain cannot cherrypick," he added.

 

The status of the border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic is one of the main stumbling blocks in the Brexit negotiations.

 

British Prime Minister in December agreed in principle to a binding "backstop" to ensure a soft border irrespective of future EU-UK ties, but later balked at an EU proposal to achieve this by treating Northern Ireland as a separate customs area to the rest of the United Kingdom.

 

Maas said the time pressure was strong, adding: "But we won't let ourselves be put under pressure. We won't enter any deals that would be to the detriment of Europe."

 

(Reporting by Michelle Martin; Editing by Ros Russell)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-07-25

We do not need to do anything ,because the E.U will always say no ,so as we are about to get in the lifeboat leaving them behind , lets see what they offer so they dont drown .

25 minutes ago, bert bloggs said:

We do not need to do anything ,because the E.U will always say no ,so as we are about to get in the lifeboat leaving them behind , lets see what they offer so they dont drown .

At all the recent summits between EU leaders they spoke about 10 to 15 minutes about Brexit. The rest of the time was spent on other matters.

That should really tell you how important Brexit is to the EU. The EU accepted that the UK is going to leave, it is now only  interested in limiting the damage and taking care of its own members. That is also why issues like the Irish border and Gibraltar have priority.

But if you like, keep believing that the EU needs the UK more than the other way around.

Ha ha....... short memory lads ?  The last time Germany told us what to do we bombed them flat......... What a bunch of shysters the EU is revealling itself to be...... or should i say Germany,  because we all know who's really in charge......

Just now, SupermarineS6B said:

Ha ha....... short memory lads ?  The last time Germany told us what to do we bombed them flat......... What a bunch of shysters the EU is revealling itself to be...... or should i say Germany,  because we all know who's really in charge......

When you say ‘we bombed them flat’, are you claiming to have personally taken part in that, or are you simply dragging up some trite jingoistic garbage?

 

 

Everyone says they are moving and after 2 years they are still at a standstill has everyone fell asleep or just lying.

The EU are simply trying to make the UK,s exit as difficult as possible full stop.....we voted out...we want out

3 minutes ago, petermik said:

The EU are simply trying to make the UK,s exit as difficult as possible full stop.....we voted out...we want out

I suspect the number of expats living in Thailand who voted ‘Leave’ is not that many more than the number of expats living in Thailand who were with ‘SupermarineS6B’ flattening Germany.

5 minutes ago, petermik said:

The EU are simply trying to make the UK,s exit as difficult as possible full stop.....we voted out...we want out

That fallacy again.... What is the EU actually doing to make the UK's exit as difficult as possible???? Probably never going to get an serious answer.

Leaving without a deal is easy. The problem is that the UK wants to keep some benefits of the EU, if not, the UK can just leave.

33 minutes ago, petermik said:

The EU are simply trying to make the UK,s exit as difficult as possible full stop.....we voted out...we want out

According to you"voted out" means also voted out of of all EU preferences. The EU status eased the (trade) problems between of the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland/UK. 

 

"Out" means then old status, old problems. In the absence of Brexit-plans in the election campaign the Brexiteers didn't like or have not been able to inform about what the UK could lose.

Edited July 25, 20187 yr by puck2

46 minutes ago, petermik said:

The EU are simply trying to make the UK,s exit as difficult as possible full stop.....we voted out...we want out

Looks like there may be a change in public opinion on that now. Your post would be more accurate if your last point was also in the past tense.

 

9 minutes ago, RuamRudy said:

Looks like there may be a change in public opinion on that now. Your post would be more accurate if your last point was also in the past tense.

 

How can a poll of only 1,668 people represent the whole of the UK?

1 hour ago, vogie said:

How can a poll of only 1,668 people represent the whole of the UK?

Depends where they did it ,lol?

1 hour ago, petermik said:

The EU are simply trying to make the UK,s exit as difficult as possible full stop.....we voted out...we want out

All I can say in answering is: If so, bear the consequences. You can't have the cake and eat it.

1 hour ago, petermik said:

The EU are simply trying to make the UK,s exit as difficult as possible full stop.....

That’s nonsense. Please show me the laws or regulations that would allow the EU to stop the execution of the Brexit?

 

Fact is, there is none. The U.K. will be leaving the EU as they wished, and the EU cannot stop that or make it difficult. Lean back and celebrate!

Edited July 25, 20187 yr by welovesundaysatspace

9 minutes ago, vogie said:

How can a poll of only 1,668 people represent the whole of the UK?

Exactly.

 

I lost trust in pollsters after they were confidently predicting a 'remain' vote prior to the referendum ?.

1 hour ago, petermik said:

The EU are simply trying to make the UK,s exit as difficult as possible full stop.....we voted out...we want out

So, why not just get out?

6 hours ago, webfact said:

Maas said the time pressure was strong, adding: "But we won't let ourselves be put under pressure. We won't enter any deals that would be to the detriment of Europe."

Well, presumably the same will apply to the UK's entering any deals. None that are detrimental to it. 

7 hours ago, welovesundaysatspace said:

That’s nonsense. Please show me the laws or regulations that would allow the EU to stop the execution of the Brexit?

 

Fact is, there is none. The U.K. will be leaving the EU as they wished, and the EU cannot stop that or make it difficult. Lean back and celebrate!

Simple fact is they want to make it difficult as other countries may well wish to follow afterwards.....

8 minutes ago, petermik said:

Simple fact is they want to make it difficult as other countries may well wish to follow afterwards.....

Again, please show me the laws or regulations that gives the EU any power to make it difficult. Like I said, there is none. The U.K. can Brexit as it wished, and the EU cannot stop it or make it any difficult. The U.K. can lean back and drink tea and the Brexit will be executed. Simple as that. 

 

What you call a “fact” is simply not true. 

Edited July 25, 20187 yr by welovesundaysatspace

30 minutes ago, vogie said:

How can a poll of only 1,668 people represent the whole of the UK?

Statistical mathematics, apparently. Survation carried out the poll - I presume they must know what they are doing, otherwise people would not pay them large sums of money to carry out polls on their behalf.

 

Here is a simple explanation I found at this link from the British Polling Council (there are other, more techincal explanations available online, but they are beyond my understanding so I won't link to them and pretend otherwise):

 

7. How can you possibly tell what millions of people think by asking just 1,000 or 2,000 respondents?

In much the same way that a chef can judge a large vat of soup by tasting just one spoonful. Providing that the soup has been well stirred, so that the spoonful is properly “representative”, one spoonful is sufficient. Polls operate on the same principle: achieving representative samples is broadly akin to stirring the soup. A non-scientific survey is like an unstirred vat of soup. A chef could drink a large amount from the top of the vat, and still obtain a misleading view if some of the ingredients have sunk to the bottom. Just as the trick in checking soup is to stir well, rather than to drink lots, so the essence of a scientific poll is to secure a representative sample, rather than a vast one

21 minutes ago, dick dasterdly said:

Exactly.

 

I lost trust in pollsters after they were confidently predicting a 'remain' vote prior to the referendum ?.

Don't forget, however, that those particular polls were rigged - free polls issued to the press indicated a Remain win, however Vote Leave private polling, for which they paid handsomely, was more detailed and showed a Leave win - hence Farage misleading the public when the referendum closed, in order to cause the market shock from which his buddies made hundreds of millions of pounds.

7 minutes ago, RuamRudy said:

Statistical mathematics, apparently. Survation carried out the poll - I presume they must know what they are doing, otherwise people would not pay them large sums of money to carry out polls on their behalf.

 

Here is a simple explanation I found at this link from the British Polling Council (there are other, more techincal explanations available online, but they are beyond my understanding so I won't link to them and pretend otherwise):

 

7. How can you possibly tell what millions of people think by asking just 1,000 or 2,000 respondents?

In much the same way that a chef can judge a large vat of soup by tasting just one spoonful. Providing that the soup has been well stirred, so that the spoonful is properly “representative”, one spoonful is sufficient. Polls operate on the same principle: achieving representative samples is broadly akin to stirring the soup. A non-scientific survey is like an unstirred vat of soup. A chef could drink a large amount from the top of the vat, and still obtain a misleading view if some of the ingredients have sunk to the bottom. Just as the trick in checking soup is to stir well, rather than to drink lots, so the essence of a scientific poll is to secure a representative sample, rather than a vast one

Well since you put it like that, what the hell was I thinking. ???

7 minutes ago, vogie said:

Well since you put it like that, what the hell was I thinking. ???

I will check with Survation - they probably know ?

1 hour ago, dick dasterdly said:

Exactly.

 

I lost trust in pollsters after they were confidently predicting a 'remain' vote prior to the referendum ?.

Except that they were not. Pundits were predicting that. Polls were seesawing back and forth in the final days.

5 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

When you say ‘we bombed them flat’, are you claiming to have personally taken part in that, or are you simply dragging up some trite jingoistic garbage?

 

 

Not personally, but my father sank and killed quite a few Germans, Italians and Japanese as well....... Does that count ? 

2 hours ago, welovesundaysatspace said:

Again, please show me the laws or regulations that gives the EU any power to make it difficult. Like I said, there is none. The U.K. can Brexit as it wished, and the EU cannot stop it or make it any difficult. The U.K. can lean back and drink tea and the Brexit will be executed. Simple as that. 

 

What you call a “fact” is simply not true. 

They could invade England.

4 hours ago, petermik said:

The EU are simply trying to make the UK,s exit as difficult as possible full stop.....we voted out...we want out

Easy then.  We just sit back and let it happen.  After all the leave campaigners said that it would be easy and straightforward and even said that the EU needs Britain more than Britain needs the EU.

 

So why are we bothering to negotiate anything at all?  When Barnier and the others say that Britain needs to get a move on with Brexit why don't we just say no?  

 

Could that be because we will suffer a dire economic crisis if we cannot negotiate a deal that at least restricts the amount of damage Brexit is causing?

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

They could invade England.

Please go back to your barstool and produce burps instead of nonsense comments. 

10 hours ago, SupermarineS6B said:

Ha ha....... short memory lads ?  The last time Germany told us what to do we bombed them flat......... What a bunch of shysters the EU is revealling itself to be...... or should i say Germany,  because we all know who's really in charge......

Pathetic