Brexit: Theresa May calls for fresh EU meeting

Theresa May touched down in Brussels as German chancellor Angela Merkel applies pressure for an immediate agreement.

EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, right, with British Prime Minister Theresa May. Picture: AFP

British prime minister Theresa May has scheduled a fresh meeting with the European Commission for this Saturday after failing to come to a final agreement on the United Kingdom’s future relationship with the European Union.

Mrs May held several hours of talks with the Commission president Jean Claude Juncker on Wednesday night and said she would return on Saturday to resolve remaining issues.

Mrs May said: “We have had a very good meeting this evening. We have made further progress and as a result, we have given sufficient direction to our negotiators.

“I hope for them to be able to resolve the remaining issues and that work will start immediately. I now plan to return for further meetings, including with President Junker, on Saturday to discuss how we can bring to a conclusion this process and bring it to a conclusion in the interests of all our people.”

The discussions were supposed to finalise the future relationship and be included in the written notes to be distributed to all EU states later today. But Mrs May admitted: “Well, there are some further issues that need resolution.

“We have given direction to our negotiators this evening. The work on those issues will now start immediately. I believe we have been able to given sufficient direction for them to be able to resolve those remaining issues.”

Mrs May arrived in Brussels earlier for Brexit crisis talks with the European Union as German chancellor Angela Merkel applied pressure for an immediate agreement on the future relationship.

As Spain starts to vacillate about Gibraltar and France, Denmark and Belgium are upset about fishing rights in a future deal, Mrs May has to try and satisfy the domestic fury about an Irish backstop that could tie the UK to the EU indefinitely. German chancellor Angela Merkel warned that Mrs May’s talks with EU chief Jean Claude Juncker — to thrash out the wording of the future relationship — have to be finalised in the coming hours to be included on Thursday’s distribution of notes to precede this Sunday’s big EU summit which is meant to sign off on both the Brexit deal and the future relationship.

Mrs Merkel’s pressure is to try and reign in escalating dissent across Europe about various aspects of the 585 page draft deal and fresh uncertainties about the future relationship document.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Picture: AFP

European Commission vice president Valdis Dombrovskis also warned that there needed to be a final political declaration on the future relationship nutted out before Sunday’s summit would go ahead. He said the EU staffers are due to meet on Friday and will need to see a final text before then.

The current sticking point in the future relationship appears to be Gibraltar. The Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, said he will not agree to any Brexit deal unless there is a guarantee that Spain can directly negotiate with the UK over Gibraltar — the disputed territory colloquially known as “the Rock”.

Mrs Merkel told the German parliament that she was ready to approve the Brexit deal but acknowledged problems in Spain. Mrs Merkel said: “We know how difficult the discussions are in Britain, but I can say for Germany that we will agree to this exit agreement. We still have an objection in Spain. I can’t say exactly how we solve this issue, but I hope it will be solved by Sunday.

“We want — and that is in our fundamental interests — to have a good relationship with Britain in the future too.”

Mrs Merkel also highlighted difficult discussions that have created dramas within the UK: the need for both the EU and the UK to jointly agree to exit a customs union if it is imposed as part of the backstop on Ireland.

Mrs Merkel said. “I think rightly, we have placed value on Britain not being able to decide unilaterally when it ends the customs union, but rather that Britain together with the EU defines this date and afterwards the future relationship into effect”.

Yesterday Mrs May continued to insist that if the Irish backstop was to be put in place, the UK government would keep all of Great Britain aligned to single market regulations, and not just Northern Ireland. She again repeated that the backstop would only be in place for a short time, perhaps just months, but given the difficulties in coming to this deal there is broad sceptism in Westminster about her claims. There continues to be huge doubt about Westminster approving the Brexit deal in the Meaningful Vote next month, although the ministerial and MP rebellion to call for a leadership spill appears to have calmed.