The chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, for the EU on Friday said that “huge and serious differences” need to be resolved to avoid Britain crashing out of the trading bloc without a bespoke deal.
Barnier urged British Prime Minister Theresa May to produce “workable proposals,” emphasising the lack of time before negotiations need to be wrapped up.
Hounded by divisions within her own cabinet over which path Brexit should take, May has struggled to provide details of her visions for Brexit to the EU negotiators.
She said on June 29 that a white paper would outline the details of her vision.
Speaking at the end of an EU leadership summit, during which Brexit was put on the back-burner as leaders thrashed out an immigration stategy, Barnier said that time was short to create a deal between the EU and the UK.
“We want a deal and (are) working for a deal,” he told reporters. “Now we are waiting for the UK white paper and I hope it will contain workable and realistic proposals. But let me mention once again that the time is very short.”
“On Brexit we have made progress but huge and serious divergences remain in particular on Ireland and Northern Ireland,” said Barnier, echoing a statement made by the European Council the same day.
When Britain leaves the EU, it will create a new land border between the EU and a non-member state—at the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland.
