Brexit Dilemmas Top Agenda at EU’s Salzburg Summit As U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May faces pressures at home over future arrangements, EU leaders see themselves able to go only so far to help her By Laurence Norman and Stephen Fidler
https://www.wsj.com/articles/brexit-dilemmas-top-agenda-at-eus-salzburg-summit-1537144448
European Union leaders will hold their first serious discussions on Brexit since March at a summit in Austria on Thursday as both the U.K. and the rest of the bloc step up preparations to reduce major economic disruptions if a deal isn’t reached.
On the face of it, negotiators are advancing toward an agreement that must be settled, drafted and ratified before Britain leaves the bloc next March 29. In reality, progress toward a deal has been minimal since April.
The informal gathering of EU leaders in Salzburg—the first of three likely summits over as many months at which Brexit will be discussed—has been preceded by warm words from the EU side, and British Prime Minister Theresa May could hear more of them once she gets there.
EU leaders are aware that Mrs. May is under pressure from anti-EU lawmakers in her Conservative Party. That has intensified after a proposal for future relations with the EU was agreed by her cabinet in July at the prime minister’s country retreat at Chequers, prompting the resignation of two prominent ministers. European leaders want to help Mrs. May ahead of a Conservative party annual conference starting Sept. 30, hoping to ward off more British political chaos that could further set back negotiations.
Behind the scenes, however, many in the EU say Mrs. May’s proposal—which aims to give British firms frictionless access to the EU market in goods—is unacceptable.
They see it as undermining the bloc’s own outstanding economic achievement: its single market in goods, services, labor and capital. They say Mrs. May’s plan would allow Britain to become a giant assembly plant for Chinese and other non-EU manufacturers with privileged access to the bloc’s 500 million people.
In Salzburg, Mrs. May is expected to set out her latest thoughts on Brexit at a dinner Wednesday of all 28 EU leaders. No talks are expected then but the other 27 leaders will discuss it without Mrs. May over lunch on Thursday.
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