The following statement was made by Michel Barnier after a round of negotiations held in Brussels from 6th to the 9th February 2018.
Brussels, 9 February 2018
Ladies and gentlemen,
I am happy to be here. I would like to thank you for being here rather than in front of your television watching the opening ceremony of the 23rd Winter Olympic Games, which has just started in Pyeongchang.
Allow me to extend my personal best wishes to both the Korean hosts and the athletes.
To come back to Brexit, we agreed with the UK side this week that the agenda would cover Ireland, the governance of the withdrawal agreement, and the transition.
We also foresaw an “update” by the UK on the future relationship. This update did not take place this morning because of agenda constraints on the UK side. That was the only meeting to have been cancelled.
Before the beginning of this round, I was very happy to meet David Davis on Monday in London, on his invitation, for a political discussion and also to meet Prime Minister Theresa May.
On the points I will now mention, this round was, for us, a “relaunch” round – the first since the Joint Report in December.
I think it is useful, however – for your work and your information – to give you an update today on the negotiations.
These meetings between us, and with David Davis whenever he wishes, will continue to take place regularly.
This negotiation is organised in rounds. This organisation is important to us – the EU side – because it gives us the time, before and after every round, to consult the 27 Member States and the European Parliament.
This is also how we ensure transparency – to which we have committed since the beginning, particularly when it comes to you.
And this method is also how we managed to reach an agreement with the British in December on the first important step of this negotiation.
