UK concession on customs union can unlock Brexit talks: EU

A senior European Union official has suggested that the British government can save its divorce deal with the bloc if it reverses its position on leaving the EU’s customs union after Brexit.

EU’s Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan said on Saturday that most obstacles blocking a final Brexit deal could be overcome if British Prime Minister Theresa May rolls back on a promise of leaving the EU’s customs union.

“If Mrs May rolled back on her red line of exiting the customs union, most of the outstanding obstacles to a deal would be swept away,” said Hogan, a former Irish government minister, in an opinion for the Irish Independent newspaper.

Hogan also urged the lawmakers in the British parliament, who earlier this week rejected May’s draft Brexit deal by 230 votes, to “drop the fanciful rhetoric and start speaking the plain, unvarnished truth.”

The comments come as May has shown no sign of dropping her so-called “red line” on Brexit, including her position on the customs union and a mutual mechanism for administration of the Irish border after Brexit, which is known as the backstop.

The Telegraph newspaper said Saturday that May had remained faithful to her stances while trying to convince European leaders to make changes to the backstop so that the Brexit deal could pass the British parliament.

SS