UK says it will hold twice-weekly Brexit talks with EU officials

 

FILE PHOTO: Flags flutter outside the Houses of Parliament, ahead of a Brexit vote, in London, Britain March 13, 2019. REUTERS/Tom Jacobs/File Photo

 

LONDON (Reuters) - British negotiators will hold twice-weekly talks with European Union officials next month in an attempt to rework the Brexit agreement that Britain's parliament has repeatedly rejected, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday.

 

Johnson has promised to take Britain out of the EU on Oct. 31, with or without a transition deal, and has demanded the removal of the existing deal's 'backstop', which the EU wants to ensure an open border between Ireland and Northern Ireland.

 

"While I have been encouraged with my discussions with EU leaders over recent weeks that there is a willingness to talk about alternatives to the anti-democratic backstop, it is now time for both sides to step up the tempo," Johnson said.

 

"The increase in meetings and discussions is necessary if we are to have a chance of agreeing a deal for when we leave on October 31st," he added.

 

The existing backstop would require Northern Ireland - and possibly the whole United Kingdom - to continue to follow many EU rules if future trade talks break down, in order to avoid customs checks on the Ireland-Northern Ireland border.

 

Britain has said technological alternatives to border checks should be possible by the time the backstop might be needed, but has given no details, prompting scepticism from the EU.

 

"Discussions so far have shown that the two sides remain some distance apart on key issues but that both sides are willing to work hard to find a way through," Britain's government said.

 

Next month's talks will take place in Brussels and will be led on the British side by lead negotiator David Frost.

 

(Reporting by David Milliken; editing by Stephen Addison)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-08-30

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Maybe they can work on group sing of this Dylan tune:

It's a restless hungry feeling
That don't mean no one no good
When ev'rything I'm a-sayin'
You can say it just as good
You're right from your side
I'm right from mine
We're both just one too many mornings
An' a thousand miles behind

I guess now the EU will hear twice a week:

"You know what Borris wants. Do it!"

And twice a week the EU won't be too impressed by this.

 

Sure you can keep on trying the same thing again and again.

But remember Einstein: Insanity Is Doing the Same Thing Over and Over Again and Expecting Different Results

 

17 minutes ago, Emdog said:

Maybe they can work on group sing of this Dylan tune:

It's a restless hungry feeling
That don't mean no one no good
When ev'rything I'm a-sayin'
You can say it just as good
You're right from your side
I'm right from mine
We're both just one too many mornings
An' a thousand miles behind

That's just "blowing in the wind"????

4 hours ago, webfact said:

The increase in meetings and discussions is necessary

for our Jedi Mind Trick strategy to be efficient.

 

All due to the outrage shown by the British public. It was such a blatant play to stop discussion and then Reese-Mogg saying that that outrage was "phoney" and this was just normal parliamentary procedure. This ain't Trump country Reese-Mogg.

Deal or no deal, I'd be very disappointed in preparation on both sides if there are no daily talks going on.

4 hours ago, webfact said:

by the time the backstop might be needed

So meanwhile the EU must accede its sovereignty to some unstated point in time to the UK?

In the alternative The Republic of Ireland should leave the EU in order for the UK and Ireland to honor the Good Friday Agreement?

Let's say the EU agrees with Johnson's idea (not really a "plan").

The EU and Ireland must then also accede their sovereignty to the U.S. in any deal between the UK and the U.S., ie., product specification, environmental regulations, etc.

As with Canada and Mexico, a deal with the U.S. is also likely to include U.S. advance approval of any trade agreements with China. As such the U.S. effectively neuters the EU Common Market. Good for Russia!

 

Well, it does demonstrate that Johnson is aiming to secure a deal that he can get approved by parliament. The 'sticking point', which was always going to be the sticking point from day one is the Irish Backstop. 

 

IMO, the only solution is to amend the political statement to e.g. - measures would be put in place during the transitional period. Britain won't be forced to stay in the backstop blah blah.

2 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I guess now the EU will hear twice a week:

"You know what Borris wants. Do it!"

And twice a week the EU won't be too impressed by this.

 

Sure you can keep on trying the same thing again and again.

But remember Einstein: Insanity Is Doing the Same Thing Over and Over Again and Expecting Different Results

 

better than May who when told to jump by the eu ,just said"how high"

8 minutes ago, bert bloggs said:

better than May who when told to jump by the eu ,just said"how high"

At least nobody asked her to dance...

 

Ridiculous as before Boris wit draw all his folks …..(as to inderline his leaving with no deal treat ..lol) and now accelerating talks ….. he is running scary seems ...

26 minutes ago, stephenterry said:

Well, it does demonstrate that Johnson is aiming to secure a deal that he can get approved by parliament. The 'sticking point', which was always going to be the sticking point from day one is the Irish Backstop. 

 

IMO, the only solution is to amend the political statement to e.g. - measures would be put in place during the transitional period. Britain won't be forced to stay in the backstop blah blah.

I think he go present May's project with his signature under it an different layout print for the backstop and make it default option by his closure of parliament …...because it seems he can get away with any lie or illusion to his voters ….

3 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I guess now the EU will hear twice a week:

"You know what Borris wants. Do it!"

And twice a week the EU won't be too impressed by this.

 

Sure you can keep on trying the same thing again and again.

But remember Einstein: Insanity Is Doing the Same Thing Over and Over Again and Expecting Different Results

 

Completely agree, that's why the EU need to come up with a better plan, theirs has been rejected by the UK parliament 3 times, EU must recognise this or there is no way forward.

35 minutes ago, david555 said:

Ridiculous as before Boris wit draw all his folks …..(as to inderline his leaving with no deal treat ..lol) and now accelerating talks ….. he is running scary seems ...

 

He plays the "village idiot, the lovable buffoon, the forgetful eccentric" etc very well. 

 

But don't be fooled. He's following his and his cronies agenda. They guessed May would fail in her gamble to claim she could agree a deal at cabinet level by use of the Royal Prerogative. They used all the time she spent floundering and flapping to formulate their plans to deliver their agenda.

 

We don't know what their real agenda is and won't for some weeks until it's too late to stop them. Unless MP's suddenly become brave and honest and bring their government down.

12 minutes ago, Baerboxer said:

 

He plays the "village idiot, the lovable buffoon, the forgetful eccentric" etc very well. 

 

But don't be fooled. He's following his and his cronies agenda. They guessed May would fail in her gamble to claim she could agree a deal at cabinet level by use of the Royal Prerogative. They used all the time she spent floundering and flapping to formulate their plans to deliver their agenda.

 

We don't know what their real agenda is and won't for some weeks until it's too late to stop them. Unless MP's suddenly become brave and honest and bring their government down.

It could be in the making :

https://news.sky.com/story/tory-grandee-ken-clarke-id-be-prepared-to-back-jeremy-corbyn-as-caretaker-pm-11797355

10 minutes ago, sungod said:

Completely agree, that's why the EU need to come up with a better plan, theirs has been rejected by the UK parliament 3 times, EU must recognise this or there is no way forward.

Or the EU just thinks: <deleted>#% it, if they want to screw up their life it's foremost their problem.

 

What would be the incentive for the EU to give BJ anything? First of all why should they give anything to BJ that they didn't offer already to May before? Because BJ asks so nicely? Sure not! And it does not matter whatever they give him BJ will anyhow blame the EU for anything bad which will happen. And a lot of bad things will happen.

 

The UK citizens should clearly see that they have to blame themselves, their crazy press, their politicians, and last but not least BJ for all the things which will happen. Enjoy your ride!

 

Lots of people in lots of countries will observe what will happen in the UK. And likely they will learn mostly what they should not do to <deleted>$# up their lives.

4 minutes ago, david555 said:

It could be in the making :

https://news.sky.com/story/tory-grandee-ken-clarke-id-be-prepared-to-back-jeremy-corbyn-as-caretaker-pm-11797355

 

 

...and still the wet dream goes on.......

18 minutes ago, sungod said:

Completely agree, that's why the EU need to come up with a better plan, theirs has been rejected by the UK parliament 3 times, EU must recognise this or there is no way forward.

There was an agreement in place, accepted by the negotiators of both parties. The UK decided not to accept it, don't you think it would be more logical that the UK should be the party to come up with a to both parties acceptable solution now?

Just now, stevenl said:

There was an agreement in place, accepted by the negotiators of both parties. The UK decided not to accept it, don't you think it would be more logical that the UK should be the party to come up with a to both parties acceptable solution now?

 

 

You fail to understand the difference between lackey and decision maker.

 

Theresa May only came back with a piece of paper - the decision makers, parliament, rejected it......... no deal.

1 minute ago, Jip99 said:

 

 

...and still the wet dream goes on.......

On both sides it seems ….????

12 minutes ago, Jip99 said:

 

 

You fail to understand the difference between lackey and decision maker.

 

Theresa May only came back with a piece of paper - the decision makers, parliament, rejected it......... no deal.

No, I don't fail to understand, you feel to understand how negotiating works. The negotiators negotiate, and when in agreement go back to the homefront to get signatures. If one party rejects, no problem, all they have to do is come up with a to the other party acceptable plan.

 

All fine here, except that 'coming up with an acceptable plan' has been lacking.

 

Your aversion to May is distorting the facts.

Edited August 30, 20196 yr by stevenl

As the EU have been insisting that there will be NO change to the EU/May agreement - presumably they will state that the UK is lying, and there will not be any further brexit talks (let alone twice weekly!), as it would be pointless?

Edited August 30, 20196 yr by dick dasterdly

3 hours ago, Joe Mcseismic said:

All due to the outrage shown by the British public. It was such a blatant play to stop discussion and then Reese-Mogg saying that that outrage was "phoney" and this was just normal parliamentary procedure. This ain't Trump country Reese-Mogg.

if it was my country's future on the line I'd be wanting DAILY discussions.. 

1 hour ago, <deleted> dasterdly said:

As the EU have been insisting that there will be NO change to the EU/May agreement - presumably they will state that the UK is lying, and there will not be any further brexit talks (let alone twice weekly!), as it would be pointless?

Not pointless at all. Yes the Withdrawal Agreement is closed and will not be open again to negotiations, but it's not the only important document! The most important is probably the one who will describe the future relations between UK and EU, and nearly all has to be done for it.

 

EU already said that she was open to discussion for this part, and we could imagine one of first articles being: "The backstop defined in the WA will be in application only during the transition period, with a maximum duration of 18 months(?) 2 years (?)…"

That could solve the problem of "UK dependent of EU rules forever". 

if it was my country's future on the line I'd be wanting DAILY discussions.. 

Yes, back to the “Let’s have a meeting.” mode again. If the EU is not going to negotiate there’s no point having any meetings, never mind twice a week.

The truth is that we don’t know what they are negotiating. They liked to say that David Davis did nothing but obviously something was discussed. Little did we know that May and Ollie were being shafted at the same time, until she produced the Surrender Treaty. They could be using the WAG as a basis for negotiations, 500+ pages to dissect and 40 Horrors to delete.

4 minutes ago, Loiner said:

Yes, back to the “Let’s have a meeting.” mode again. If the EU is not going to negotiate there’s no point having any meetings, never mind twice a week.

The truth is that we don’t know what they are negotiating. They liked to say that David Davis did nothing but obviously something was discussed. Little did we know that May and Ollie were being shafted at the same time, until she produced the Surrender Treaty. They could be using the WAG as a basis for negotiations, 500+ pages to dissect and 40 Horrors to delete.

So you really think this needs no mutual preparations.

1 hour ago, <deleted> dasterdly said:

As the EU have been insisting that there will be NO change to the EU/May agreement - presumably they will state that the UK is lying, and there will not be any further brexit talks (let alone twice weekly!), as it would be pointless?

As Barnier's people are polite they can always come to have a coffee or tea … I think there could even be a slice of cake with it...…. but sorry , no cherries … ???? (orders from Tusk maybe ?...lol )

Edited August 30, 20196 yr by david555

2 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

The UK citizens should clearly see that they have to blame themselves, their crazy press, their politicians, and last but not least BJ for all the things which will happen. Enjoy your ride!

As we are looking at blame for the UK lets start from the beginning.

 

Ted Heath for lying profoundly to the people what the EEC was really all about.

 

John Major for signing the Maastricht Treaty

Tony Blair for the Lisbon Treaty

 

David Cameron for resigning and not keeping his promise of respecting the referendum result.

 

Theresa May for doing her best keeping the UK in the EU pretending she would get the UK out.

 

The ride as you put it has been since 1975.