MEPs set to declare no sufficient progress on Brexit a day before May's conference speech
EURO MPs are set to declare there has been no "sufficient progress" achieved in the Brexit talks in a vote taking place just a day before Theresa May makes her big speech to the Tory party conference.
The EU parliament looks set to give its verdict on the state of the divorce talks to date around 24 hours before the PM takes to the podium to deliver her keynote address in Manchester.
Today David Davis and Michel Barnier struck a much more upbeat tone about the ongoing divorce talks, with both men saying progress had been made even though more work remains to be done.
And there has been some criticism over the timing of the MEPs vote, coming so soon before Mrs May's big address, but EU Parliament officials insist the two events are not in any way linked.
On Tuesday, October 3 MEPs will debate and then vote on a draft resolution, compiled by the EU’s Brexit coordinator Guy Verhofstadt and his steering group, which contains a number of scathing criticism of UK negotiators.
Mrs May is then set to give her keynote address to the Tory party conference the next day, meaning delegates will have had overnight to digest the result of the vote and what it says about the progress of the negotiations.
Mr Verhofstadt's resolution states the parliament “is of the opinion that in the fourth round of negotiations sufficient progress has not yet been made on citizens’ rights, Ireland and the Northern Ireland, and the settlement of the UK’s financial obligations”.
It also “calls on the European Council, unless there is a major breakthrough in line with this resolution in all three areas during the fifth negotiation round, to decide at its October meeting to postpone its assessment on whether sufficient progress has been made”.
Mr Barnier and Mr Davis and their teams are set to meet for one more round of negotiations, in mid-October, before a meeting of the EU27 at the end of the month at which an update on the Brexit talks will be delivered.
Davis hails "real progress" on citizens' rights during Brexit talks
In the fourth round of negotiations sufficient progress has not yet been made
The Frenchman is expected to recommend that there is no sufficient progress yet but that steps are being made. EU Council chief Donald Tusk said the same thing following a meeting with Mrs May in Downing Street earlier this week.
However, the EU’s chief negotiator was notably more upbeat about the talks during today’s press conference than at the end of previous rounds, saying the PM’s speech in Florence had created a “new dynamic”.
Observers noted that Mr Barnier used much more sympathetic language towards the UK and threw in several glowing references Mrs May - seemingly a diplomatic attempt to give her a boost before a Tory conference at which some disgruntled hard Brexiteers may attempt to cause mischief.
In contrast to that tone the resolution to be put before the EU parliament, which is the most hardline of all the bloc’s institutions, is more scathing in its assessment of Britain’s efforts to date.
On citizens’ rights, it says that MEPs are “of the opinion that the United Kingdom’s proposals falls short in that respect, not least as regards the proposal to create a new category of ‘settled status’ under UK immigration law”.
It also “expresses concern about regrettable administrative practices against EU citizens living in the United Kingdom” - a reference to deportation letters mistakenly sent out to European nationals.
On the Brexit bill, the resolution “underlines so far the absence of any clear proposals has seriously impeded the negations and that substantial progress in that area is required”.
And on Ireland it contains implicit criticism of the Government’s plans for a seamless border after Brexit, drily observing that this appears to “presume that the UK stays in the internal market and customs union or that Northern Ireland stays in some form in the internal market and customs union”.
Sufficient progress is on the three key divorce issues - citizens' rights, the financial settlement and Ireland - is required before talks can move onto trade. It is exclusively down to the EU Council of 27 member states to deem when this has been achieved, although the EU Parliament will have a veto on the final deal reached between Britain and the EU.
Update: An earlier version of this story stated that the vote on the resolution would be taking place on Wednesday, October 4 at noon, around an hour before Mrs May is set to deliver her Tory party conference speech. This was due to an incorrect time and date for the vote being published on the EU Parliament's website in error.