EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said after meeting other EU ministers that there are “several elements” in UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit white paper that “open the way to a constructive discussion regarding the political declaration on our future relationship”.
However, he also noted that he had put many questions back to the US for clarity on whether the proposals are workable. And he warned that “Brexit cannot be and will not be a justification for creating more bureaucracy.”
At this point, there is still no agreement on how to avoid a hard Irish border. Barnier said “this requires a legally operative backstop, an all weather insurance policy, to address the issues of Ireland and Northern Ireland. All 27 member states insist on this.”
