After another week of no apparent progress on Brexit negotiations, EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier's latest attempts to assure London appear to have hit a wall by weekend.
After negotiations in Brussels that were characterized as "difficult", Barnier opened on Friday a series of tweets by noting that the bloc had proposed to Britain a "legally binding interpretation" of the Brexit withdrawal agreement.
Barnier also underlined an EU commitment "to give UK the option to exit the Single Customs Territory unilaterally," so long as the "backstop" along the Northern Irish border remained in place, to avoid a hard border that would go against the Good Friday peace agreements.
The "UK will not be forced into customs union against its will," Barnier insisted, while promising that the EU would continue "working intensely over the coming days to ensure the UK leaves the EU with an agreement."
In a rebuke, British Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay tweeted that it was "not the time to rerun old arguments," with deadlines looming for Britain's departure from the EU on March 29.
Barclay appeared to dismiss the possibility of leaving the customs union while a "backstop" stays in place, an option that has been rejected by many Brexit advocates, and notably the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party, a part of the British government coalition, because it would mean separate rules for Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom.
BRITISH PM WARNS OF DEADLOCK
"We may not leave the EU for many months, we may never leave at all," British Prime Minister Theresa May warned British Members of Parliament in a Friday speech in the northern English town of Grimsby, as she tried to find support for the Brexit withdrawal agreement that she would put up for a vote at the House of Commons by March 12.
May said the agreement needed "just one more push" to get approved, but noted "If MPs do not back the deal, the only certainty would be uncertainty, months more spent arguing on Brexit."
Despite her warnings, signs are not positive that May has either found the assurances and concessions that many MPs want, or that she will drum up the support needed to have the agreement approved after it was defeated for the first time on Jan. 15.
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar spoke to journalists Friday, dismissing Theresa May's speech, saying that the British PM needed "a change of approach" and London needed to come up with propositions if it wanted new concessions for the "backstop".
"What's not obvious is what the UK government is offering the European Union and Ireland should they wish us to make any further compromises," the Irish PM said, underlining "We have received no offer from them as to what they would give us in return for any changes."
"It requires a change of approach from the UK government to understand that Brexit is a problem of their creation," Varadkar said.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte echoed the sentiments of his Irish counterpart, saying that a breakthrough continued to appear elusive and required the UK to decide what it wanted, in order to make fresh proposals. Rutte also admitted he did not understand what Theresa May meant by "just one more push" was needed to reach a deal.
