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EU chief negotiator says Brexit talks are stuck in a state of deadlock

Friday, October 13th 2017 - 12:33 UTC
Full article 2 comments
Barnier said trade talks were likely to be delayed by months, increasing the chance of no deal being done. Barnier said trade talks were likely to be delayed by months, increasing the chance of no deal being done.

The European Union's chief negotiator on Brexit talks says negotiations with the United Kingdom are stuck in a state of deadlock. The EU wants to know what divorce bill Britain is prepared to pay before talks go any further. British officials, on the other hand, want to begin trade talks now, before they commit billions.

 Britain's Brexit Secretary David Davis insisted talks were going well but the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier said a lack of agreement on a divorce bill was very disturbing for many Europeans.

Mr Barnier said trade talks were likely to be delayed by months, increasing the chance of no deal being done. He said British proposals on expatriate citizens' rights and the Irish border still failed the EU test, while London's refusal to spell out a detailed cash offer was “very worrying” for business.

With signs that nerves are fraying on both sides as less than 18 months remains before the deadline for Britain to leave the EU, some hard-line Brexit supporters want Prime Minister Theresa May to just walk out of talks.

Both negotiators repeated that they were ready for any eventuality including a collapse.

But, Mr Barnier warned, “no deal would be a very bad deal”.

Ms May herself said there had been “good progress” and welcomed Mr Barnier's talk of further progress “over the coming weeks”.

Categories: Politics, International.

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  • The Voice

    The myopic Germans are hard to negotiate with, you cant! Its why we will end up just leaving. It was them that refused to budge on allowing us to have some control on the massive number of EU immigrants we have accomodated causing us to leave.

    Oct 13th, 2017 - 01:14 pm 0
  • Islander1

    Correct Voice- It is Germany who is demanding UK commits to silly amounts of cash way above what is fairly due - because Germany knows they are the only guys with money left in the EU once UK leaves and they will have to fill the gap left by the UK contribution!

    Oct 13th, 2017 - 06:16 pm 0
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