UPDATE: EC Juncker "Not Satisfied" With UK Position Papers

--Updates with EP President comments

By Tara Oakes

     BRUSSELS (MNI) - None of the UK's recent swathe of Brexit position papers

were satisfying, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said Tuesday.

     Future relationship talks cannot be launched until the divorce is settled,

he added, putting paid to UK hopes of speeding up the second phase of

negotiations.

     Juncker confirmed that he had read all the papers that Britain had

published in the run-up to the August negotiations -- weeks after the bloc had

published a large number of their own.

     "The British government were hesitating to show their colours, so we

published ours to inspire them," Juncker jibed at a European Union ambassadors'

conference.

     He added that the recent flurry of documents haven't sufficiently dealt

with the three issues that require "sufficient progress" before future

relationship talks can begin: citizens' rights, the exit financial settlement

and the question of the island of Ireland.

     "None of them really satisfied me. There are a huge number of questions

that still need answering," Juncker told attendees, adding that there was no

"definitive response" on the Irish question or citizens' rights.

     UK negotiator David Davis has been pushing for a revision of the agreed

timetable to allow for future relationship talks to go ahead in tandem with the

three key divorce issues.

     The UK side remain optimistic that the Union will see the need to discuss

future partnerships at least in regards to the Irish border, where they believe

no exit talks can realistically proceed without some recognition of what a

future arrangement will look like.

     But Juncker said that the EC's proposal was "ultra-clear".

     "We won't have any talks on new relations before settling all the questions

of Article 50 -- the divorce," he said.

     "We have to deal with the past before the future."

     Juncker's comments came as more marked tensions between the sides bubbled

up from the very start of the latest round of Article 50 talks. EC negotiator

Michel Barnier opened a usually cordial first day of talks by saying he was

"concerned" at the time passing without progress.

     European Parliament President Antonio Tajani released a statement Tuesday

urging the British side to "come forward with clear positions" on the key

issues.

     "With the clock steadily ticking away there are millions of students,

workers and families -- some of whom have spent their entire lives in another EU

country -- still facing as much uncertainty now as they did when the British

government formally triggered Article 50 in March," Tajani wrote. The European

Parliament will ultimately have to approve any Brexit deal.

     Upon arrival in Brussels, Davis called for "flexibility and imagination":

but Juncker's comments Tuesday give an indication how limited the EC's

flexibility on the timetable, at least, will be.

--MNI Brussels Bureau; +44 203-865-3851; email: tara.oakes@marketnews.com

--MNI London Bureau; tel: +44 203-586-2225; email: les.commons@marketnews.com

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