Britain pushes for talks about the future, EU wants divorce first

[webfact]

Britain pushes for talks about the future, EU wants divorce first

By Gabriela Baczynska and Philip Blenkinsop

 

FILE PHOTO: Britain's Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union David Davis (L) and European Union's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier hold a joint news conference after the round of Brexit talks in Brussels, Belgium July 20, 2017. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir/File Photo

 

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - British officials arrive in Brussels on Monday to push the EU towards talks about their post-Brexit ties, which the bloc refuses to do without an agreement first on London's exit bill and other divorce issues.

 

A third round of Brexit talks takes place more than a year after Britons voted in a referendum to leave the European Union, delivering an unprecedented blow to the post-World War Two European integration.

 

Chief Brexit negotiators, the EU's Michel Barnier and Britain's David Davis, will meet at 1500 GMT before more talks on Tuesday and Wednesday convene on technical level on expatriate rights, divorce bill and "other separation issues".

 

Senior officials will also tackle the conundrum of the future border between EU state Ireland and the United Kingdom's Northern Ireland, and a news conference is due on Thursday, according to a schedule published by Brussels.

 

Britain will present in detail its several papers released last week on issues ranging from customs arrangements to data sharing. They have often ventured out into the future relationship between London and what will become a 27-state EU.

 

Britain will be urging the bloc to show "imagination" and focus discussion on these future ties rather than just on the divorce settlement.

 

On Sunday, the opposition Labour Party said it would keep Britain in the European single market and customs union for a transitional period after Brexit, offering a clear alternative to the policies of Prime Minister Theresa May.

 

The bloc wants to settle chief separation aspects first and has already signalled the slow progress so far means jumpstarting talks about a new accord with Britain is now less likely in October, as had been expected.

 

"Both the UK and the EU have an interest to move forward quickly in negotiations and that requires us to make sufficient progress on citizens' rights, on the financial settlement on Ireland," said a senior EU official involved in the talks.

 

"The divorce issues should be relatively straightforward to sort out. So it is not a matter of time needed in terms of the technical complexity, it is a matter of political will."

 

While there is some convergence on safeguarding the rights of EU citizens residing in Britain and Britons living on the continent, more technical work is needed, EU sources say.

 

The Irish issue, extremely delicate because of the violent history between the two communities there, is fraught with economic consequences and politically complex.

 

On money, the EU and Britain seem to be seas apart on agreeing how much London should pay the bloc on departure to account for previous commitments.

 

Sides expect no major leaps forward this week in the talks aimed at unravelling more than 40 years of union.

 

But both highlight that time is scarce as the negotiations should conclude well before the provisional Brexit date of March 2019 to leave time for ratification and approval procedures of any deal by Britain, EU states and the bloc's parliament.

 

(Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska and Philip Blenkinsop, editing by David Evans)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-08-28

[eliotness]

This divorce is turning nasty, which is what happens when you employ lawyers.

[RichardColeman]

As God says "Get on with it' ! Seems to me some real dallying here. 

[terryw]

Today's Daily Telegraph reports that the French agree that Trade and

Divorce talks must go hand in hand. They propose a 3 year Transition with a yearly payment of 10 billion Euros.

 

Also the German trade organisations are trying to put pressure on the German government to talk trade.

 

If these reports are correct then we might begin to make progress.

[Thongkorn]

 Just tell them to Bog off, Produce the Accounting  files for the time Britain has been in the EU. But they have not been signed off  for years, So would a  any man in the street pay for something he has not had, Tell them Our terms  and walk away, In EU law we dont have to pay a penny to them , 

[nontabury]

So how much charity money should the UK give the E.U.

 

 

 

[Thongkorn]

The above video is correct,  when is Europe going to pay Britain for protecting them since 1945, ie the NATO cost, which many European Countries have not been paying their fair share, America cottoned onto this a few years ago,

[Bundooman]

1 hour ago, Thongkorn said:

The above video is correct,  when is Europe going to pay Britain for protecting them since 1945, ie the NATO cost, which many European Countries have not been paying their fair share, America cottoned onto this a few years ago,

Spot on! And when is Europe going to balance the books regarding the staggering cost borne by Britain to rebuild Europe after WW2 after Germany's world domination aspirations, assisted by you-know-who - the Vichy French and good old Italy?

We owe the EU nothing. the EU is a failing giant. It won't be long before Spain, Italy, Greece and France are clamoring for gigantic handouts to relieve their corrupt existences together with any number of piddling little money sucking other countries that can't wait to jump on to this disastrous bandwagon.

The British government needs to stamp all over these whining, repetitive and power hungry, non-elected, jumped up little pratts and lay down the UK demands, accepting no nonsense from this dying and monstrous organisation.

Failure to agree and Britain should just kick their miserable European <deleted> back where they belong. There is no mention of a "divorce' settlement in the original agreement. If anyone feels there is - please spell it out to me, chapter and verse, year of publication, whether it was signed and agreed with the British government!

We should never have joined them. The massively wasteful butter and other commodity mountains of the 60s and 70s were a stark warning for the future of this inept and inefficient conglomeration!

[Dumbastheycome]

Oh !   I  say!  What  vehemence ! Pray tell....why  did the  UK   go there in the  first  place? Nay  nay. Don't  say !  It was  never  about   a select advantage  was  it !  

The  Brit  Bulldog  days  are over.  Now its  just a   whimpering  Corgi  that  can only  snap at  ankles that  kick it.

Small world. 

[elliss]

8 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

As God says "Get on with it' ! Seems to me some real dallying here. 

    That  is  the  plan , no  progress since  article 50 , also  PM has no intention of a second term in office .

      That will do  nicely , stalemate . Election time . 

 

[tomacht8]

When you're organizing a divorce, it's about getting clean apart.
At the same time you can not debate about a re-marriage or other marriage.
That makes little sense.

[Stargeezr]

The EU is like a lawyer who wants their money first before they let Britain go into the future with their pockets turned inside out and no money left in their bank account.  That is my opinion of the EU stuff shirts.

Geezer