Theresa May’s Florence speech last week certainly prompted a warming of words from Brussels – but so far it has triggered little action. At today’s press conference between Michel Barnier and David Davis to mark the completion of the fourth round of Brexit talks, the EU’s chief negotiator said not enough progress had been made to move to talking about a UK/EU trade deal in the next round of talks:
‘I think it’s positive that Theresa May’s speech made it possible to unblock the situation, to some extent, and give a new dynamic to the situation. But we are far from being at a stage – it will take weeks, or maybe even months – where we will be able to say “Yes, okay, there has been sufficient progress on the principles of this orderly withdrawal.”‘
While this is not the news the UK government would have liked to hear, it’s not unexpected.
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