EN - Press conference by Michel Barnier, European Commission Chief Negotiator, and David Davis, British Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, following the 3rd round of Brexit negotiations with the United Kingdom - 31.08.2017 - European Commission, Berlaymont, Brussels, Belgium: - 3rd round of Article 50 negotiations with the UK, roundtable, -Press conference - Michel Barnier: "On Monday, I told my concern. Time flies. Each passing day brings us closer to the departure of the United Kingdom, on 29 March 2019 at midnight. This week we have clarified a number of issues, such as the status of cross-border workers, the aggregation of social security rights and the proceedings before the Court of Justice. But we have not made any decisive progress on the main subjects, although the discussion we have had on Ireland has been fruitful. (...) The UK wants to take back control, and adopt its own standards and regulations. But it also wants to have these standards recognised automatically in the EU. That is what UK papers ask. This is simply impossible. You cannot be outside the Single Market and shape its legal order. (...) We have clarified a few points this week, but we need to go further to reassure citizens. Over the summer, around one hundred EU citizens living lawfully in the UK received deportation letters. The UK government quickly recognised that this was a mistake. But this is not the first time that something like this has happened.It reinforces the need to ensure that citizens' rights are directly enforceable in front of national jurisdictions, under the control of the European Court of justice, a point on which we disagree today. (...) EU taxpayers will not pay for Brexit. They should not pay at 27 for the obligations undertaken at 28. This would not be fair. In July, the UK recognised that it has obligations beyond the Brexit date. But this week the UK explained that these obligations will be limited to their last payment to the EU budget before departure. Yet we have joint obligations towards third countries. (...) We also have jointly committed to support innovative enterprises and green infrastructure in European regions until 2020. These are not recognised by the UK as obligations. With such uncertainty, how can we build trust and start discussing a future relationship? We need to address these issues seriously and rigorously. (...)" David Davis: "This week we've discussed a wide range of issues which will have a significant impact on people's life; in particular both sides have agreed to protect the right of frontier workers, to cover future social security; that we should at least protect existing health care rights and arrangement s with the EU 27 in the UK and UK nationals in the EU. As good news for example for British pensioners in the EU; it means they continue to have their health care arrangements protected whether where they live and when they travel in other member states. (...) On economic rights, to secure the rights of British citizens in the EU27 to set up and manage business within an EU member state and of course vice-versa. On mutual recognition qualification, we made progress on protecting the recognition of qualifications for British citizen residing in the EU 27 and the EU27 citizens in the UK. All these topics are reciprocal; they work for Brits in the EU and the EU 27 in the UK. (...) On the financial settlement, the Commission set out its position and we have a duty to our tax payers to interrogate it rigorously. At this round we presented our legal analysis, on on-budget issues, on off-budget issues and on the EIB. It is fair to say across the piece we have a very different legal stance but as we said in the Article 50 letter, the settlement should be in accordance with law and in the spirit of the UK's continuing partnership with the EU. (...) On separation issues, we've had a good discussion on the detail of paper the UK published at the end of round. We've reached almost complete agreement on the privilege and immunities which benefits the UK and the EU to maintain after we leave and on our mutual approach on confidential requirement son shared information post-exit. On EURATOM, another institution issue, we built upon discussion in July and will make place for even more progress in the next round. We remain committed to make as much progress as possible on these issues that are solely related to our withdrawal but our discussions this week have exposed yet again that the UK's approach is substantially more flexible and pragmatic than the EU as it avoids unnecessary disruption for businesses and consumers. (...)" © Frédérick Moulin 2017 - EU2017 - European Commission -

• published: 31 Aug 2017
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