Barnier: Brexit talks 'deadlocked'

Following latest round of Brexit talks, EU and UK sides say they are ready for possibility of no deal.

Michel Barnier and David Davis | Photo credit: Press Association

By Julie Levy-Abegnoli

12 Oct 2017


The Brexit talks are at a deadlock, Michel Barnier, the EU's chief Brexit negotiator, has warned.

Addressing reporters in Brussels in French, he said, "In her Florence speech, Theresa May insisted the UK would honour its financial commitments as an EU member state. However, this week the UK government once again said it was not prepared to provide details on these commitments so these were not discussed. We are at an extremely worrying impasse."

As a result, Barnier said he was "not in a position" to advise the EU's 27 national heads of state to "open discussions on the future EU-UK relationship during next week's summit meeting."


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Still, he was confident he said that "with political will, decisive progress in the next two months is within our reach."

The former European Commissioner added, "No deal would be a very bad deal. To be clear, on our side, we will be ready for any eventuality."

Barnier's UK counterpart David Davis argued that "it is the duty of responsible governments" to prepare for the possibility of  no deal, but insisted that the "prize" the UK was aiming for was "a good, mutually beneficial deal overall - we are planning for everything."

He acknowledged that, "much more work needs to be done, but it's important to recognise the significant progress we've made since June."

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