BRUSSELS - Britain's weakened prime
minister, Theresa May, said on Thursday she did not expect to
secure a quick breakthrough in Brexit talks that would give her
fractured party the reassurances needed to get her deal through
parliament.
Arriving in Brussels just a day after a failed attempt to
topple her at home, May was met largely by readiness to help
from European Union leaders and one demand: tell us want you
want.
Britain's departure from the EU, its biggest shift in trade
and foreign policy for more than 40 years, is proving anything
but smooth, complicated by the deep divisions in her
Conservative Party, the lower House of Commons and the country
as a whole.
With less than four months before Britain is due to leave on
March 29, May faces deadlock in parliament over the deal she
agreed with the EU last month but which has hardened opposing
positions at home, throwing up more uncertainty for businesses
trying to predict what will happen to the $2.8 trillion economy.
"I recognise the strength of concern in the House of Commons
and that is what I will be putting to colleagues today," May
said. "I don't expect an immediate breakthrough, but what I do
hope is that we can start work as quickly as possible on the
assurances that are necessary."
EU leaders were clear. They all said they needed to know
exactly what May wanted to secure in Brussels but also warned
that Britain could not reopen the divorce deal, or withdrawal
agreement, signed off by both sides in November.
While others tried to temper their language by expressing a
desire to help May, French President Emmanuel Macron ruled out
any legal changes to the agreement.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel was less strident, saying:
"We can of course talk about whether there are additional
assurances but in this the 27 EU members are together and will
make their interests clear, although always in the spirit that
we want very, very good relations with Great Britain after Great
Britain has left the European Union."
MAY SURVIVES
May will meet the EU leaders to discuss Brexit later on
Thursday, less than 24 hours after she survived a no confidence
vote among Conservative lawmakers in London, when critics of her
plan tried to bring her down.
She won the secret ballot 200-117 but the size of the vote
against her merely deepened divisions just weeks before
parliament needs to approve a deal to prevent a disorderly exit
from the EU. Victory also came at a price - May promised she
would step down by the next election scheduled for 2022.
"I said that in my heart I would love to able to lead the
Conservative Party into the next general election but I think it
is right that the party feels it would prefer to go into that
election with a new leader," she told reporters.
With no vote on the Brexit package in the parliamentary
schedule before Christmas, May hopes to secure political and
legal assurances from the EU over the so-called Northern Ireland
backstop - designed to prevent extensive controls on the border
with the Irish republic that could disrupt a peace settlement
for the British-ruled province.
But while EU leaders said they wanted to help, a draft EU
statement said they were merely "ready to examine" whether
further assurance can be given.
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said it was hard to know
what the EU should give to May because it was not clear what she
needs to win over opponents. "Not all the arguments of Brexit
supporters are rational," he said.
Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite put it more bluntly.
"Brexit Christmas wish: finally decide what you really want and
Santa will deliver," she said on Twitter in posting a picture of
a chocolate Christmas tree.
BACKSTOP BATTLE
The backstop is the main stumbling block for lawmakers in
London who fear Britain will become stuck in the fallback
arrangement, preventing it from striking trade deals beyond the
EU.
The level of opposition to her deal was underlined earlier
this week when May was forced to delay a parliamentary vote on
her deal, designed to maintain close future ties with the EU,
for fear of a defeat.
May, who met Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar in Brussels
and EU summit chairman Donald Tusk, wants legal assurances that
the backstop will not remain in place indefinitely.
The EU's draft statement, seen by Reuters, reiterated that
it prefers a new trade deal to triggering the Irish backstop and
it would try to conclude one swiftly, even if the emergency
border fix kicks in.
EU states were not in agreement on the text on Thursday
morning, however. Diplomats in Brussels expect it to change
after May tells the other national leaders what she needs to
push their deal through her parliament.
They suggested the EU may be readying more solid assurances
for May in January.
"Today is about de-mystifying this whole Northern Ireland
backstop. Nobody in the EU wants to use it. But we need to have
it," said Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. "How to make that
clarification on paper - that's something we have to look at
tonight."