In brexit negotiations, EU commission complains of obstruction by scattered information about an allegedly extremely weak prime minister theresa may.
"It’s an attempt to discredit the eu side and undermine the language," martin selmayr, head of commission chief jean-claude juncker’s cabinet, wrote on twitter.
The background is a report in the "frankfurter allgemeine sonntagszeitung" about a dinner between juncker and may before the eu summit last week. Juncker described may afterwards as despondent, fearful, distrustful and powerless, the newspaper reported. The head of government had pleaded with the EU for help because she had little room for maneuver at home.
A british government spokesman declined to comment: "I have absolutely nothing to say on the matter." the ex-advisor of theresa may, nick timothy, accused on twitter directly juncker’s cabinet chief: "selmayr does this. A reminder that some in brussel didn’t like a deal or a punishing deal." timothy resigned after conservative election defeat last june.
Selmayr went on the offensive on the short messaging service: "i deny, 1. That we have scattered that, 2. That juncker ever said that, 3. That we are punitive on brexit."
A little later, juncker’s spokesman margaritis schinas made a similar statement: "some people are pointing the finger at us to advance their own political issues and priorities or even to undermine our negotiating position. We thought it would be nice if these people loved us in peace. We have a lot of work and no time for gossip." juncker never said anything like that, schinas asserted. The EU is working on a fair agreement on the british exit from the EU.
The cabinet in london, which is partly divided on the brexit course, is meanwhile behaving cautiously. In the past few days – in contrast to the months before – there have been no public riots that would indicate any major disagreement. At an event in london on monday, prime minister boris johnson even praised the fact that the tone of the eu summit had been "more positive" than he had expected.