On Friday, a clearly furious Theresa May summoned the BBC to Downing Street to broadcast her response to the European Union’s rejection of her Chequers plan for Brexit. In terse language, she demanded Brussels “show respect” for Britain and once again ruled out the options on the table from the EU, and insisted her proposals were the only way of avoiding a no-deal outcome.



But the prime minister’s decision to double down on Chequers less than 24 hours after EU leaders publicly rejected key parts of it is unlikely to force a change of heart on the continent. Asked by BuzzFeed News whether her remarks would make any difference to the stance of the EU’s remaining 27 governments, a senior European government official, responded in a text message: “I get it. She is panicking.”

The message from Brussels to EU27 capitals, according to a senior diplomat, has been to note that the EU’s job in these negotiations is to look after the interests of member states, not find solutions to May’s domestic political problems.

“The European Commission is and will continue to work constructively,” an EU official said after May delivered her statement.

On Thursday, at a summit in Salzburg, Austria, European leaders unanimously agreed that key components of her proposals, in particular on access to the single market for goods, but not services, would not work for the EU as they risked undermining the four freedoms of movement — of people, goods, services, and capital.

European officials and diplomats were surprised by the reaction this got from May, Brexiteers back in the UK, and parts of the British media. It was a position they’d stated repeatedly over the two years since the referendum, and particularly since Chequers, but it was described in the UK as a “humiliation” and a “slap in the face” for the prime minister.

The reality is that Salzburg left both sides disappointed, with early expectations unfulfilled.

May began her week upbeat and full of optimism. Downing Street was briefing that they were very confident there would be warm words awaiting the PM at the Salzburg meeting, and that she was on track for a breakthrough that would eventually see the EU’s remaining 27 member states agree to proposals that would, in effect, split the four freedoms.



European leaders, on the other hand, were expecting to see some movement in May’s thinking, and, crucially, an indication of when to expect some long-awaited progress towards a solution to avoid a hard border in Northern Ireland under all circumstances.

But there was no movement on the UK side and few warm words from the EU in return. The resulting outcome, one official told BuzzFeed News, was “almost an accident”.