BRUSSELS: The EU and Britain clashed Monday after British Prime Minister Theresa May said the ball was in the EU’s court as Brexit negotiations entered a critical fifth round.
Officials from both sides are meeting in Brussels, but chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier and British counterpart David Davis are not attending the start, underscoring low expectations for the talks.
This round of divorce discussions is the last before European leaders meet at a summit on Oct. 19 to decide whether there is “sufficient progress” to move on to the trade talks that Britain desperately wants.
The European Commission roundly rejected May’s assertion that it was up to Brussels to take the initiative to advance the stalled talks, amid fears that her domestic political woes were threatening the negotiations.
“We do not provide comment on comments but what I can remind you of is there is a clear sequencing to these talks and there has been so far no solution found on step one, which is the divorce proceedings,” the commission’s chief spokesman Margaritis Schinas told a press conference.
“So the ball is entirely in the UK court for the rest to happen,” he added.
Even before the commission’s latest intervention, the prognosis for the talks was grim, with European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker having warned that “miracles” would be needed this week to make enough progress to get a positive decision at the summit.
Brussels is particularly alarmed by the leadership crisis engulfing the British prime minister, facing a plot to oust her after a catastrophic, mishap-strewn speech at her Conservative party’s conference.
Barnier and Davis are expected to give a press conference on Thursday after four days of talks, although officials added that was yet to be confirmed. Wednesday’s timetable remains empty for now.
The questions over May’s leadership have seriously damaged hopes that a speech she gave in Florence in September, which contained key concessions, could give a “new dynamic” to the talks.
Initially, Barnier had hoped to achieve “sufficient progress” to move on to discussing future EU-UK relations by the end of October, with the clock ticking for a deal before Britain leaves the bloc in March 2019.
The talks have stalled on all three of the key divorce issues — the exit bill Britain must pay, the rights of EU citizens living in Britain and the fate of the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said on Twitter on Monday that “a customs border would be expensive, a barrier to trade and an obstacle to peace. That’s why we are working to prevent it, with support of EU.”
London wants to begin talks on the future, including a possible EU-UK trade deal, as soon as possible.
Barnier tweeted on Friday that “Brexit negotiations next week should continue to advance” but he himself has warned there are still “significant divergences” and a lack of progress.
“It’s quite unlikely there will be sufficient progress made over the coming two weeks,” a senior European source told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Diplomats said there was still an outside chance that the leaders of the EU member states, with an “eye on history,” might decide to approve the next phase anyway. But they would be flying in the face of not only Barnier’s advice but also that of Juncker, European Council President Donald Tusk and the European Parliament.
Britain, EU clash over who takes next Brexit step
Britain, EU clash over who takes next Brexit step
Top Australian writers’ festival canceled after Palestinian author barred
SYDNEY: One of Australia’s top writers’ festivals was canceled on Tuesday, after 180 authors boycotted the event and its director resigned saying she could not be party to silencing a Palestinian author and warned moves to ban protests and slogans after the Bondi Beach mass shooting threatened free speech.
Louise Adler, the Jewish daughter of Holocaust survivors, said on Tuesday she was quitting her role at the Adelaide Writers’ Week in February, following a decision by the festival’s board to disinvite a Palestinian-Australian author.
The novelist and academic Randa Abdel-Fattah said the move to bar her was “a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday announced a national day of mourning would be held on January 22 to remember the 15 people killed in last month’s shooting at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration on Bondi Beach.
Police say the alleged gunmen were inspired by the Islamic State militant group, and the incident sparked nationwide calls to tackle antisemitism, and prompted state and federal government moves to tighten hate speech laws.
The Adelaide Festival board said on Tuesday its decision last week to disinvite Abdel-Fattah, on the grounds it would not be culturally sensitive for her to appear at the literary event “so soon after Bondi,” was made “out of respect for a community experiencing the pain from a devastating event.”
“Instead, this decision has created more division and for that we express our sincere apologies,” the board said in a statement.
The event would not go ahead and remaining board members will step down, it added.
Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, British author Zadie Smith, Australian author Kathy Lette, Pulitzer Prize-winning American Percival Everett and former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis are among the authors who said they would no longer appear at the festival in South Australia state, Australian media reported.
The festival board on Tuesday apologized to Abdel-Fattah for “how the decision was represented.”
“This is not about identity or dissent but rather a continuing rapid shift in the national discourse around the breadth of freedom of expression in our nation following Australia’s worst terror attack in history,” it added.
Abdel-Fattah wrote on social media that she did not accept the apology, saying she had nothing to do with the Bondi attack, “nor did any Palestinian.”
Adler earlier wrote in The Guardian that the board’s decision to disinvite Abdel-Fattah “weakens freedom of speech and is the harbinger of a less free nation, where lobbying and political pressure determine who gets to speak and who doesn’t.”
The South Australian state government has appointed a new festival board.
