EU Preparing for No-Deal Brexit on Its Own Terms

Two days after the Brexit Secretary’s incendiary article in the Mail on Sunday, European Union leaders have initiated their own political and diplomatic offensive against Britain’s new Tory government.

EU officials have been widely quoted in the international media as saying there is currently no basis for “meaningful discussions” with the UK over Brexit.

One EU negotiator has reportedly said: “we are back where we were three years ago”.

This public relations offensive by EU officials is, in part, a response to the Brexit Secretary, Stephen Barclay’s combative article in the Mail on Sunday, where he bluntly told the chief EU negotiator, Michel Barnier, to “go back to your EU masters” for a new “mandate”.

Now the EU officials behind Barnier are bluntly telling Barclay, and his boss Boris Johnson, that there is effectively no new “mandate”.

The two sides are trapped in an apparently intractable dispute over the Irish border “backstop”.

The backstop is a position of last resort to ensure a frictionless border on the island of Ireland. If implemented, it would oblige Northern Ireland to remain aligned with the rules and regulations set by the EU’s single market.

Johnson reportedly sent his own European envoy to Brussels last week as part of a last ditch attempt to persuade EU officials to compromise on the backstop issue.

With a no-deal Brexit looking increasingly inevitable, the two sides are likely to use the next couple of months to secure advantages post-Brexit.

SS