Brexit secretary says UK has been more flexible, but Tusk says no deal still possible

Dominic Raab has walked into a row over his demand that the EU compromises in the Brexit talks, as the European council president, Donald Tusk, warned that the “catastrophe” of a no-deal scenario was “still quite possible”.

In an interview with continental European newspapers, the UK’s Brexit secretary had said it was the EU’s time to move on its red lines, and that warm words would not suffice with so little time left until Brexit day.

“We have shown a lot of flexibility and we have been very pragmatic,” Raab said. “So I think this is the moment to see that matched … The ball is a little bit in the other court now.”

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The comments received a swift put-down from Austria’s minister for European affairs, Gernot Blümel, who made it clear that such a move by the EU was not on the cards, despite the growing threat of a no-deal Brexit.

“The reality is that the UK must find a way forward,” Blümel told reporters in Brussels. “The EU has done so, [the] EU27 have a clear position and 80% of the departure treaty has been agreed”.

Raab was speaking on the eve of a leaders’ summit in Salzburg where Theresa May will appeal to the 27 EU member states to soften their stance on the single market and customs union to get a deal done. The leaders will discuss the state of the negotiations over lunch the following day.

“Salzburg is an informal EU summit, but it will be an important milestone – a stepping stone if you like – to show we’ve actually got the contours of an agreement on principles to continue the final weeks of these negotiations,” Raab said. “Positive words are helpful. But what we need now is concrete action and decisions.”

Yet EU officials and ministers indicated that there was no prospect of compromise by the EU on its opposition to the central economic planks of May’s Chequers proposals: a common rulebook on goods and a customs arrangement to allow the UK frictionless trade and the power to strike its own free-trade deals.

A senior EU official said the debate among the leaders in Salzburg would rather focus on whether it might be necessary for the political declaration to be vague in areas, and leave the arguments over the trading relationship until after Brexit, a so-called blind Brexit.

“I know that there are indeed two approaches: have a joint political declaration that is very much clear to the last point or to have a political declaration which, while recognising already an agreement on a number of issues, leaves a certain space for negotiations on a number of issues,” the official said. “I think at this stage this will be at the core of the debate in Salzburg; how detailed it will be.”

Raab said in his interview that a vague declaration would not, however, work for the UK. He said: “In the political statement, we must determine the direction in which we will move in the future. Otherwise it will be difficult to get the necessary support from our parliament and the citizens.”

France is among the member states who want the terms of the future trading relationship clear to avoid ambiguity and prolonged internal and external negotiations after 29 March 2019.

In a letter to the leaders before the meeting, published on Tuesday, Tusk nevertheless said everything must be done to avoid a no-deal Brexit, in a sign that he is open to such a “blind Brexit”. He also proposed that an extraordinary Brexit summit be approved in Salzburg, as first reported by the Guardian.

“With only six months to go before the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU, we are entering the final weeks of negotiations,” Tusk wrote.

“Therefore, I want us to review progress in these talks and to discuss the way forward with three objectives in mind. First, we should reach a common view on the nature and overall shape of the joint political declaration about our future partnership with the UK.

“Second, we will discuss how to organise the final phase of the Brexit talks, including the possibility of calling another European council in November. Third, we should reconfirm the need for a legally operational backstop on Ireland, so as to be sure that there will be no hard border in the future.

“Let me recall that limiting the damage caused by Brexit is our shared interest,” Tusk aded. “Unfortunately, a no-deal scenario is still quite possible. But if we all act responsibly, we can avoid a catastrophe.”

An EU official said the bloc needed to have “something on paper” on its position with regard to the political declaration by October’s European council, should there be any hope of finding agreement within the time left before Brexit.

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Beyond the differences over the Chequers proposals, there is still an impasse over the issue of the backstop solution that would ensure that there would never be a hard border on the island of Ireland.

Raab insisted in his interviews with papers including Spiegel and Le Monde that the EU’s proposal to in effect keep Northern Ireland in the single market and customs union remained unacceptable.

“Under no circumstances will we allow a customs border to be pulled through the Irish Sea,” he said. “The territorial and economic integrity of Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK must be respected.”

He further repeated his warning that the UK would not pay its full £39bn divorce bill in the event of no deal. “The agreement we made politically under the exit agreement would not be the sum we would pay in this case,” he said. “The pressure in this country would be too big to do that.”

Meanwhile the Irish government is expected to approve plans to hire 450 new customs and inspection officers for Dublin port before the end of the year as preparations for Brexit are ramped up. A cabinet meeting heard that 90% of food horticultural goods and livestock coming to the island of Ireland comes through the port.

This will mean that inspection on agri-goods destined for Northern Ireland from Britain will be checked in Dublin port first, helping Michel Barnier’s efforts to “de-dramatise” the Irish border issue.