EU leaders, on Brexit, in their own words in Salzburg, Austria, 20 September 2018
Source: Reuters
European Union leaders met in Salzburg, Austria, for an informal summit to discuss migration and Brexit. Below are comments of some of the leaders arriving on Thursday.
FRENCH PRESIDENT EMMANUEL MACRON
“First of all, I’m not the one who created an Irish government... Second, we have very clear principles regarding the integrity of the single market and regarding precisely the Irish border. It was precise in March and it was endorsed by the 27 members. So, we have to find collectively and we need a UK proposal precisely preserving this backstop in the framework of a withdrawal agreement.”
“I never command speculations. I have sufficient work with reality.”
BELGIAN PRIME MINISTER CHARLES MICHEL
“Today I can see that it is necessary to make all the steps because the proposals are not enough in order to have an agreement.”
EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESIDENT JEAN-CLAUDE JUNCKER
On the presentation of British PM Theresa May on Wednesday
“It was interesting, it was polite, it was not aggressive. She is doing her job.”
LUXEMBOURG PRIME MINISTER XAVIER BETTEL
“We listened to Teresa May yesterday, I think that she told us the efforts the British government did, and today we listen to Michel Barnier on the different points. I still believe that there’s some difficult points. I fully believe that we will be able to find an agreement.”
“It’s a compromise from both sides, it’s not on one side.”
AUSTRIAN CHANCELLOR SEBASTIAN KURZ
“You know that, as before, the approaches are very different. But to report something positive, inside the room, away from the hard media statements outside, I think both sides are aware that they will only reach a solution if they move towards each other.”
IRISH PRIME MINISTER LEO VARADKAR
“I had a very good meeting this morning with Prime Minister May and her team. Time is running short. There’s proposals for another summit in October and then in November. Ireland is a country that obviously wants to avoid a no deal scenario, we want to avoid a no deal Brexit, (but) we are preparing for that, we are hiring extra staff and officials, putting in IT systems, we’re ready for that eventuality should it occur. But I think we need to double our efforts over the next couple of weeks to make sure that we have a deal.”
“That deal of course would involve three elements, so withdrawal agreements providing for the UK to leave with a transition period, a protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland making sure that under all circumstances there won’t be a hard border on the island of Ireland, and also a joint political declaration outlining what that new relationship is going to look like.”
