ANTI-EU sentiment in Europe will FORCE EU to make Brexit look difficult, warns pollster
THE DIRECTOR of Deltapoll Joe Twyman warned that the European Union would not want to make Brexit easy for the UK because of “pockets of anti-EU feeling” in member states.
Brexit: EU want to be seen fighting says Twyman
The polling company director Joe Twyman warned that the European Union “wants to be seen fighting at every single stage” of the Brexit negotiations because it does not benefit them.
Mr Twyman told CGTN America: “We know that across the European Union countries there are, to varying degrees, pockets of anti-EU feeling.
“The last thing the European Union would want is to make this look easy and straightforward.
“Certainly they would not want it to look beneficial for the country leaving.”
Negotiators from the UK and EU have reached an agreement on 80 percent of the Brexit deal.
The last thing the European Union would want is to make this look easy and straightforward
But there are still major sticking points over Britain’s continued access to the single market and how to avoid a hard border in Ireland.
Mr Twyman added: “It is worth pointing out that it is in nobody’s interest to make these negotiations look straightforward.
“Everyone involved, whether it is the EU, whether it is different sections of the Conservative party, whether it is the political class in general.
“They don’t want to make it look easy, they want to be seen to be fighting - for Britain, or the European Union, at every single stage.
“That plays well with their supporters back home because this is a negotiation and it is a hugely important one but also it is a political issue.
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“Nobody wants to be seen to be rolling over easily or in a straightforward manner because that could damage them domestically at the ballot box.”
The Prime Minister Theresa May has already started in her bid to soften the EU's guidelines by paying visits to the bloc's most influential leaders.
This summer, Mrs May has visited Sebastian Kurz, Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel as she tries to sideline Mr Barnier from his duties.
On Friday, Mrs May visited Emmanuel Macron in a bid to convince him to support her Chequers plan.
The Prime Minister cut her holiday a day short to meet with the French leader, who is reportedly one of the main opponents to the UK’s plans.