Brussels (AFP)
European-British talks on Brexit will resume Monday in Brussels and Michel Barnier's team is waiting to see whether Boris Johnson has agreed to change his positions on the "problematic" issues of his exit plan from the EU.
Its emissary David Frost will have a first working session in the late morning with members of the team of EU negotiator Michel Barnier and a second in the afternoon, we learned from two parts.
The proposals presented last week by the British Prime Minister to replace the agreement concluded by Theresa May were rejected by the Europeans. They gave the British a week, until Friday, to change them to avoid a "no deal" on October 31.
If the British government does not "come back with new proposals on two serious problems that we have reported to them, I do not see how we could advance," warned Michel Barnier, Saturday, at an event organized by the newspaper Le Monde .
The British minister responsible for Brexit was open on Sunday to discuss the sensitive issue of the Northern Irish arrangements in Boris Johnson's Brexit plan, while calling on the EU to be "flexible".
Europeans deny London's veto power to North Irish assembly and executive and deem "problematic" the plan's proposals for customs controls between the British province of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland Ireland after Brexit.
London can "discuss", said Brexit Minister Steve Barclay. "We can go into the details of the operational functioning" of the proposed measures for customs controls. The EU wants to avoid the reestablishment of a border between Ireland and Northern Ireland.
French President Emmanuel Macron met Sunday with Boris Johnson and proposed a report "next weekend" on the feasibility of an agreement. The British Prime Minister has repeatedly ruled out another postponement of the Brexit date, scheduled for 31 October.
A law passed by the Parliament, however, forced him to postpone the date of divorce if there is no agreement at the European summit of 17 and 18 October, to avoid a "no deal" with potentially economic and social consequences disastrous.
© 2019 AFP