The European Union will continue negotiations with Britain and resist being “provoked” by a move by the London government to reverse prior agreements, chief negotiator Michel Barnier has told a meeting of member state ambassadors in Brussels. The feeling at the meeting was that the bloc “should not be provoked, and should continue calmly with negotiations,” an EU diplomat said. However, “in the end, for some ambassadors it was not conceivable to sign another agreement, if they just ripped up the last one,” the diplomat added. “The message from Barnier and the member states was to keep calm and carry on, and there was a strong focus on the need not to react to a provocation by the UK side,” a separate EU diplomatic source said. The EU has given Britain until September 30th to alter the internal markets bill, and last week said it would “not be shy” in taking legal action.

Source: The Irish Times September 16, 2020 18:11 UTC