EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier came to Berlin to meet Foreign Minister Heiko Maas. They made perfectly clear that there is not a hair’s breadth between their positions on Britain leaving the European Union.
Berlin and Brussels showed a united front on Wednesday delivering a single message to London: There will be no cherry-picking when it comes to the single market.
European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier came to the German capital for talks with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, after which they appeared before a handful of cameras and reporters to offer similar statements.
“In the end, it will come down to the fact that we will resist the so-called cherry-picking,” said Maas, following familiar declarations of sorrow that Britain had chosen to part ways, and that Germany, like all the other 27 remaining EU member states, wanted a close relationship with the UK in future.
However, both men remained optimistic that an agreement could be reached – that there would be no “disorganized Brexit.” Barnier said a deal had been reached on a majority of the issues, while Maas professed that the “last big hurdle” was the question of the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
“We are firmly convinced that the exit agreement must guarantee that Brexit must not lead to a hard border in Northern Ireland,” said Maas. “It is important that this guarantee must be valid regardless of how the EU and Britain will shape its new relationship.”
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