Brussels Brexit chief warns of 'huge and serious' gap between UK and EU
3 min read
There is still a "huge and serious" gap between Britain and the rest of the European Union on Brexit, the EU's chief negotatiator has warned.
Michel Barnier said the latest meeting of European leaders had taken only limited steps forward, and warned that time was now "very short" for the UK to strike a deal.
"On Brexit, we have made progress, but huge and serious divergence remains, in particular on Ireland and Northern Ireland," he said.
The EU bigwig also stood firm after Theresa May urged the bloc to soften its stance on security cooperation with Britain after it leaves.
"After Brexit, we want, the EU want, an EU-UK ambitious partnership, on trade as well as on security," he said.
"But we have to base this partnership on our values and principles, respecting also the UK red lines.
"That means for us integrity of the single market, indivisibility of the four freedoms, autonomy of the decision making of the EU, and protection and respect of the fundamental rights of EU citizens. And this point is key for our future cooperation and security."
He added: "Now we are waiting for the UK white paper. And I hope it will contain workable and realistic proposals.
"But let me mention once again that time is very short. We want a deal, and are working for a deal, but time is short and I’m ready to invite the UK delegation to come back and present next Monday."
Mrs May - who earlier warned EU leaders that their citizens' lives would be at risk if they threw up fresh barriers to security working on criminal suspects - has promised more detail on the UK's Brexit plans in a hefty White Paper next month.
But key details, including the UK's position on future customs ties with the European Union, are still to be thrashed out by Mrs May's Cabinet at a crunch Chequers summit on Friday.
Speaking to reporters today, Mrs May said: "We are going to be publishing our white paper shortly and I want to see the negotiations accelerating and intensifying thereafter."
The warning from Mr Barnier came after Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar slammed the lack of detail from the British side.
"We did expect that we would make more progress - or any progress, really," he said.
"We expected there would be progress at this summit in June, like there was in March and December. And there hasn’t been.
"So I will be saying to Prime Minister May we all need to intensify our efforts now. All of us want there to be a deal. We need a deal. Europe needs a deal, Britain needs a deal too."
PoliticsHome Newsletters
PoliticsHome provides the most comprehensive coverage of UK politics anywhere on the web, offering high quality original reporting and analysis: Subscribe
