EU's Barnier Casts Fresh Doubt on May's Post-Brexit Blueprint
- Goods and services are indivisible in single market, he says
- Bloc’s negotiator’s first appearance since cabinet agreement
Michel Barnier
Photographer: Jasper Juinen/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
European Union chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier raised fresh doubts that the bloc will accept Theresa May’s plan for future economic ties that was agreed to at a U.K. cabinet meeting last week.
In his first public appearance since the blueprint was announced on Friday, Barnier signaled that the EU won’t back down in its insistence that the U.K. can’t have access to the bloc’s single market by keeping identical regulations in goods while diverging in services. Even though May received cautious backing from within her party for the plan, the fragile consensus could break down if she gives in to any EU demand for more concessions.