EU, UK to have more Brexit talks but key disagreement intact

BRUSSELS (AP) — British Prime Minister Theresa May, who will be traveling to European Union headquarters to seek an elusive breakthrough in Brexit negotiations, was told Tuesday on the eve of the talks that her most important demand is not even up for discussion.

EU Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said “the EU27 will not reopen the withdrawal agreement,” a condition that many British lawmakers have insisted upon before they will back a deal to have Britain leave the bloc on March 29.

With time getting tight and British legislators growing increasingly uneasy over the government’s Brexit plans, May is still looking to change the deal’s legal phrasing to make sure that the conditions she agreed to on the border with EU member Ireland would bind the UK only temporarily.

The EU refuses to budge and says the 585-page legal Brexit agreement is a take-it-or-leave-it document. It does want to discuss other ways to find a compromise, but, so far, London has been insistent on changing the legal text.

Schinas said talks this week seek “to see whether a way through can be found that would gain the broadest possible support in the U.K. parliament and respect the guidelines agreed” by the EU member states.

Under the current Brexit deal negotiated between May and the EU, there would be a long transition to make sure businesses and trade suffer as little as possible. But if no Brexit deal is agreed to by the British parliament, that risks a chaotic departure that could be costly to both sides — both to businesses and ordinary people.

As the time shrinks between a Brexit deal and the Brexit departure date, the more difficult it becomes for businesses and authorities to adapt to the fundamental changes that Britain’s withdrawal from the EU would entail.