Prime Minister Theresa May said on Friday she had told fellow EU leaders
that Britain would honour its commitments to the Union on Brexit and
that other countries would not lose out in the current budget plan.
Asked whether she had told leaders over dinner on Thursday that she was
ready to increase Britain’s financial offer, May told reporters that she
had repeated points made in a speech at Florence last month. EU leaders
said May had made no new pledges and repeated her view that many of the
EU’s demands had “no legal framework”.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in a markedly positive response on Friday to an EU summit appeal by Prime Minister Theresa May for help with Brexit, said talks with Britain were moving forward and were unlikely to break down.
Merkel made her comments at the end of the first day of a European Union summit and after May had appealed to her fellow leaders to help her silence critics at home and break a deadlock in the talks. After May left the meeting on Friday, the other 27 confirmed a goodwill gesture to speed up future talks by launching internal preparations for after Brexit.
“In contrast to how it is portrayed in the British press, my impression is that these talks are moving forward step by step,” Merkel told a late-night news conference, dismissing as “absurd” suggestions in Britain that the talks should be broken off.
“I have absolutely no doubts that if we are all focussed ... that we can get a good result. From my side there are no indications at all that we won’t succeed,” she said.
Arriving for the second day, others emphasised the positive too: Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat called May’s speech her “best performance yet” and “a warm, candid and sincere appeal”. Ireland’s Leo Varadkar said it was “very strong”.
But others complained they had heard little new of substance and rejected May’s repetition of London’s view that demands for money from Brussels have “no legal framework”. Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern said “rhetorical progress” needed to be followed by “tangible conclusions”.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in a markedly positive response on Friday to an EU summit appeal by Prime Minister Theresa May for help with Brexit, said talks with Britain were moving forward and were unlikely to break down.
Merkel made her comments at the end of the first day of a European Union summit and after May had appealed to her fellow leaders to help her silence critics at home and break a deadlock in the talks. After May left the meeting on Friday, the other 27 confirmed a goodwill gesture to speed up future talks by launching internal preparations for after Brexit.
“In contrast to how it is portrayed in the British press, my impression is that these talks are moving forward step by step,” Merkel told a late-night news conference, dismissing as “absurd” suggestions in Britain that the talks should be broken off.
“I have absolutely no doubts that if we are all focussed ... that we can get a good result. From my side there are no indications at all that we won’t succeed,” she said.
Arriving for the second day, others emphasised the positive too: Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat called May’s speech her “best performance yet” and “a warm, candid and sincere appeal”. Ireland’s Leo Varadkar said it was “very strong”.
But others complained they had heard little new of substance and rejected May’s repetition of London’s view that demands for money from Brussels have “no legal framework”. Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern said “rhetorical progress” needed to be followed by “tangible conclusions”.
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