At the dinner in the first day of the EU summit in Salzburg, Austria, UK Prime Minister Theresa May was given the stage to sell her Chequers Brexit proposal. It’s reported that she said theses were “serious and workable proposals” and hoped that the EU will “respond in kind”. She emphasized the Irish border problem could be solved by the type of “frictionless trade” envisaged in the Chequers plan. But the Commission’s proposal is “not credible.
But there were little responses from the leaders of the other 27 EU nations. They are expected to discuss the issues among themselves over lunch on Thursday today, so as to give a united stance for chief negotiator Michel Barnier to conclude a final in two months.
After the dinner, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite said “At this stage, it’s a standstill. There is no progress.” Slovak Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini said, “On the border issue, there has been no progress.” An unnamed diplomat said “She spoke. There was no reaction.”
