What to make of it all?
So Barnier has set out his stall..mostly. Firstly, forget the hogwash from The Times about May being barred from this and that. It's all cobblers as May won't be at the negotiating table, the same as the EU27 state heads won't be either. Davis and Barnier are the main men and they'll be reporting back to their powers that be.
Secondly, take some of Barnier's comments with a pinch of salt. This is the start of the "public" negotiations and this will be where rhetoric will be strongest. Barnier isn't going to talk soft in these public appearances. Anyone who knows anything about negotiating knows you talk tough in public, and you certainly don't give away where your bottom line will be. The comment on the UK paying the costs for EU agencies to move out is one such attempt to draw a strong line on something. Expect many more of them.
What I did like is the way he also gave a guarded warning to his bosses by saying they must remain cool headed and concentrate on the solutions. I fear both Barnier and Davis will be facing just as tough a battle speaking to their own houses as they will with each other.
One big sticking point I see coming is what jurisdiction everything will fall under. The EU wants the ECJ to be the defining power but that could create a clash with the UK government. The ECJ is likely to reign supreme while the UK is still in the EU (during negotiations) but it's what happens after that will be the fight. There's plenty of room for that subject to become messy in the meantime.
I still maintain that the citizen rights subject will be solved pretty easily, it's not as if EU or UK citizens will have to anything drastic like chop their arms off to move around Europe. It's not the movement part of the equation that will be the problem, it will be the benefits and health systems that will be the issue, as that's where the main costs lie to the UK from EU citizens coming to, and staying in, the UK.
Overall, we probably shouldn't have expected anything less from this but as I say, what the negotiators say in public might be worlds away from what they say behind closed doors.
The pound took a small dip over the presser but there's been no real damage done and there's not been much given we didn't already know.
Now we'll await the UK's response in good time.
