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Mostrando entradas de septiembre 8, 2017

Under pressure from all sides

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If Theresa May ever thought getting out of the European Union required only negotiating with Brussels she received a sharp wake-up call this week . Underscoring how many constituencies she must appease to deliver Brexit, the U.K. prime minister finds herself under pressure not just from the EU but also from British politicians of the left and the right, as well as business leaders. Chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier on Thursday highlighted the depths of his frustration and of the division between the two sides. He accused the U.K. of reneging on promises over a divorce payment and said he was worried by May’s approach to the Irish border. In a reworking of the refrain that the U.K. can’t “have its cake and eat it,” Barnier rejected the possibility of combining “the benefits of the Norwegian model with the weak constraints of the Canadian model.” Minutes from a European Commission meeting in July highlighted the tensions. They quoted Commission President Jean-Claude Jun