{"id":636,"date":"2018-04-18T12:09:48","date_gmt":"2018-04-18T10:09:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/britishdailynews.co.uk\/?p=636"},"modified":"2018-04-18T12:09:48","modified_gmt":"2018-04-18T10:09:48","slug":"brexit-first-talks-on-uks-future-relationship-with-eu-begin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/britishdailynews.co.uk\/?p=636","title":{"rendered":"Brexit: first talks on UK\u2019s future relationship with EU begin"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Senior British and EU officials will discuss the UK\u2019s future relationship with the\u00a0<a class=\"u-underline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/eu\" data-link-name=\"auto-linked-tag\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\">European Union<\/a>\u00a0for the first time on Wednesday, in a milestone for the Brexit talks.<\/p>\n<p>More than a year after the government triggered article 50, British and EU negotiators will meet across a table to discuss the UK\u2019s future trade ties.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"element element-rich-link element--thumbnail element-rich-link--upgraded\" data-component=\"rich-link\" data-link-name=\"rich-link-1 | 1\">\n<div class=\"rich-link tone-news--item rich-link--pillar-news\">\n<div class=\"rich-link__container\">\n<div class=\"rich-link__header\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"rich-link__read-more\">\n<div class=\"rich-link__read-more-text\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>The talks will be mostly limited to a formal presentation on the negotiating guidelines agreed by EU leaders in March, as well as setting a schedule for future meetings. Nonetheless, it is a significant moment for the UK, 10 months after the Brexit secretary, David Davis, was\u00a0<a class=\"u-underline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/politics\/2017\/jun\/19\/uk-caves-in-to-eu-demand-to-agree-divorce-bill-before-trade-talks\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">forced to bow to the EU\u2019s timetable, having previously promised the \u201crow of the summer\u201d.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Before Wednesday\u2019s meeting, the European parliament\u2019s Brexit coordinator, Guy Verhofstadt, stepped up his call for guarantees to ensure that EU citizens can avoid the \u201cbureaucratic nightmare\u201d that has ensnared the\u00a0<a class=\"u-underline\" draggable=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/uk-news\/commonwealth-immigration\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Windrush generation<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking in the European parliament in Strasbourg, Verhofstadt called on the chief\u00a0<a class=\"u-underline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/politics\/eu-referendum\" data-link-name=\"auto-linked-tag\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\">Brexit<\/a>\u00a0negotiators, Davis and Michel Barnier, to be ready to make changes to the withdrawal treaty, if MEPs deemed modifications were needed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCertainly after the Windrush scandal in Britain we want to be sure that the same is not happening to our European citizens and that there is no bureaucratic nightmare there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Home Office officials will be grilled by a special group of MEPs next Tuesday in Brussels, where they will be quizzed on the procedure for 3.5 million EU citizens to obtain special status. Following that meeting \u201cif there are changes needed we will also communicate to the negotiators, to\u00a0<a class=\"u-underline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/politics\/daviddavis\" data-link-name=\"auto-linked-tag\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\">David Davis<\/a>\u00a0to Michel Barnier, what modifications are needed to avoid problems for EU citizens\u201d Verhofstadt said.<\/p>\n<p>While the the European parliament is not negotiating Brexit, it has the power to veto the final deal and MEPs insist they are ready to use it.<\/p>\n<div id=\"dfp-ad--inline1\" class=\"js-ad-slot ad-slot ad-slot--inline ad-slot--inline1 ad-slot--rendered\" data-link-name=\"ad slot inline1\" data-name=\"inline1\" data-mobile=\"1,1|2,2|300,250|fluid\" data-desktop=\"1,1|2,2|300,250|620,1|620,350|fluid\" data-google-query-id=\"CNintp_Kw9oCFc0W4Aod21QIlg\">\n<div id=\"google_ads_iframe_\/59666047\/theguardian.com\/politics\/article\/ng_7__container__\" class=\"ad-slot__content\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Wednesday\u2019s talks are being led by Barnier\u2019s deputy, Sabine Weyand, and the UK prime minister\u2019s\u00a0<a class=\"u-underline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/europe-news\" data-link-name=\"auto-linked-tag\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\">Europe<\/a>\u00a0envoy, Olly Robbins. Before talks on the future relationship, the pair are meeting to discuss progress on resolving the status of the Irish border, the most intractable issue of the talks.<\/p>\n<p>As that meeting was getting under way, Donald Tusk, the head of the European council, reiterated his warning that the UK risked leaving the EU without a deal if there was no solution on Ireland.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe UK\u2019s decision on Brexit has caused the problem, and the UK will have to help solve it,\u201d he told MEPs. \u201cWithout a solution, there will be no withdrawal agreement and no transition.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Irish government, which is frustrated by slow progress, is pressing for a solution to the border question by June. So far Ireland has benefited from solid support from the rest of the EU, illustrated by a Manfred Weber, the leader of the largest European parliament group, who told MEPs on Wednesday: \u201cWe are all Irish in this regard.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Diplomats say support for Ireland is strong, although some think the Irish government\u2019s hopes of solving the issue in June are unlikely to be realised. \u201cI find it a bit unrealistic because [the Irish issue] is so political, it can only be wrapped with everything if we have crossed all the \u2018t\u2019s and dotted the \u2018i\u2019s, as part of a package on the future relationship,\u201d one said.<\/p>\n<p>Source\u00a0https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/politics\/2018\/apr\/18\/brexit-first-talks-on-uks-future-relationship-with-eu-begin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Senior British and EU officials will discuss the UK\u2019s future relationship with the\u00a0European Union\u00a0for the first time on Wednesday, in a milestone for the Brexit talks. More than a year after the government triggered article 50, British and EU negotiators will meet across a table to discuss the UK\u2019s future trade ties. The talks will [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":637,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/britishdailynews.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/britishdailynews.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/britishdailynews.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/britishdailynews.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/britishdailynews.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=636"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/britishdailynews.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":638,"href":"https:\/\/britishdailynews.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636\/revisions\/638"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/britishdailynews.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/britishdailynews.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/britishdailynews.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/britishdailynews.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}