The EU's Brexit chief negotiator demands "clarity" from Britain on the course of withdrawal from the European Union. "There must be some movement on the British side," Michel Barnier said one day before a new statement by Prime Minister Theresa May in the House of Commons.
Barnier responded to the Nein Mays on opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn's proposal for a permanent customs union with the EU. In a three-page letter to the Labor chief May showed at the same time but in the dispute over their Brexit course for further talks with the opposition ready. Barnier did not want to comment on the rejected proposal of the Labor politician, but said he found him "interesting in tone and in the matter".
The EU must now focus intensely on the possibility of an unregulated UK exit from the European Union, said Barnier. "There are still 46 days to go, the time is extremely short," he added. "It is important that we prepare ourselves for all scenarios and take all emergency measures that are needed more than ever."
Asked whether the EU Commission is preparing a "hard line" between Northern Ireland and the EU member state for the case of Brexit without an exit agreement, Barnier said after an interview with Luxembourg's head of state Xavier Bettel: "We prepare the emergency response with every capital, and we're working on all the hypotheses with all the capitals, that's all I can say. "
Britain wants to leave the EU on 29th March. The contract on exit modalities that May had negotiated with the EU came through in the London parliament in mid-January. Above all, there is resistance to a settlement in the agreement, according to which Britain and Northern Ireland will remain part of a customs union with the EU unless the EU and Britain agree on a new form of future cooperation after the EU's exit.