The European Union (EU) is ready to work again on the political declaration on future EU-U.K. ties but the Brexit withdrawal deal already agreed is the best one possible, the bloc’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, said on Monday.
Mr. Barnier has been consistent since Prime Minister Theresa May’s deal suffered a crushing defeat at home last week that the EU would consider a potential request for closer post-Brexit ties, but will not renegotiate the withdrawal agreement rejected by Parliament.
‘The best deal’
“The withdrawal agreement with all its dimensions, including the backstop, is the best deal possible,” Mr. Barnier told Ireland’s RTE in an interview after a 45-minute meeting with Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney in Brussels.
“As I see, following carefully the political debate in London, this debate is much more now on the future relationship. As I said last week at the EU Parliament, if the U.K. want to be more ambitious, we are ready to be.”
“It is now for the U.K. leaders to build a stable and positive majority for a deal. We are waiting for the next steps from the U.K. government but we are ready to work again on the political declaration.”
Ms. May will focus on changing the ‘backstop’, which under the current withdrawal accord would come into force if Britain and the EU fail to reach a comprehensive trade deal at the end of a planned transition period. The backstop is strongly opposed by many lawmakers in Ms. May’s Conservative Party and by the small Northern Irish party that props up her government as it could mean Northern Ireland diverging from the rest of the U.K. on regulatory matters.
Asked three times if there was any scope for further concessions on the backstop, Mr. Barnier reiterated that the withdrawal agreement — of which the backstop is a key element — was the best deal possible.
In a sign of just how grave the political crisis in London has become, The Daily Telegraph reported that Mr. May was considering amending the 1998 Good Friday Agreement which ended 30 years of violence in Northern Ireland. Ms. May’s spokesman said later that Britain was committed to the Good Friday deal. Ireland will not engage in bilateral talks on Brexit and will only negotiate as part of the 27 remaining members of the EU, European Affairs Minister Helen McEntee said.