Britain yesterday said it would not capitulate in Brexit talks and again urged EU countries to engage with its proposals as ministers in Paris and Berlin suggested that the next move in the negotiations should come from London.
British Prime Minister Theresa May on Friday demanded new proposals and respect from EU leaders, saying after a summit in Austria that talks had hit an impasse.
UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt yesterday reinforced that position, even if that meant leaving the union in March next year without a deal.
“If the EU’s view is that just by saying no to every proposal made by the United Kingdom, we will eventually capitulate and end up either with a Norway option or indeed staying in the EU... then they’ve profoundly misjudged he British people,” Hunt told BBC Radio.
“We may be polite, but we have a bottom line. And so they need to engage with us now in seriousness,” he said.
May’s defiant statement was welcomed by many in the British media that reported the Salzburg summit as a failure for her.
The Daily Express said it was “May’s finest hour.”
However, initial reactions from across the English Channel suggested that France and Germany were digging in too.
EU leaders and May have said that they want to reach a deal by October, to be finalized in November.
In Paris, French Minister for European Affairs Nathalie Loiseau said that, while France still believes a good Brexit deal is possible, it must also prepare for a “no deal” outcome.
Britain’s vote to leave “cannot lead to the EU going bust,” she said on France Info radio. “...That’s the message we have tried to send for several months now to our British counterparts, who may have thought we were going to say ‘yes’ to whatever deal they came up with.”
In Berlin, German Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Michael Roth said that the other 27 EU countries are striving to achieve reasonable solutions.
“The blame game against the EU is therefore more than unfair. We can’t solve the problems that are arising on the island due to Brexit,” he said on Twitter.
In London, the Telegraph reported that May faces the prospect of ministerial resignations next week if she fails to come up with an alternative to the “Chequers” Brexit plan that she presented in Austria.
Hunt said that teh Uk economy would be able to withstand a no-deal Brexit and it was “absolutely right” that many Britons are content to leave the EU without a deal.
“Even in a situation where we aren’t able to come to an agreement, we would be trading on World Trade Organisation terms. It would be bumpy, it would be difficult, but we would find a way to survive and prosper as a country,” Hunt said. “We’ve had far bigger challenges in our history. But it’s not our desired outcome.”
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