Prime Minister Theresa May tried to unite her fractious Cabinet behind her plan to reboot faltering Brexit negotiations Thursday, as a senior European Union official suggested British hopes of moving the divorce talks on to a new phase next month might be dashed.
May gathered ministers to reveal details of a speech she will deliver in Florence, Italy on Friday. The meeting stretched on for an exceptionally long two and a half hours before ministers emerged with fixed smiles. In a display of unity, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and Treasury Chief Philip Hammond — advocates of "hard" and "soft" Brexit respectively — walked out the door of 10 Downing St. side by side.
May has chosen Florence, one of the historic hearts of Europe, as the location for an address that the government says will stress Britain's desire for a close and special relationship with the bloc.
Britain triggered a two-year countdown to departure from the EU in March. Since then, negotiations have made little progress on key issues including the status of the Ireland-Northern Ireland border and the amount Britain must pay to settle its financial commitments to the bloc.
EU officials say talks can't move on to future relations with Britain until key divorce terms — the Irish border, the financial settlement and the rights of citizens hit by Brexit — have been agreed upon. May's speech is intended to help break the logjam.
EU leaders will be looking for May to signal Britain's willingness to pay up. But some members of her Cabinet oppose paying a multibillion-pound (dollar, euro) bill.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson blasted open government divisions over Europe with a long newspaper article last week laying out his vision of a "glorious Brexit" — a move widely seen as pre-empting May's announcements in her Florence speech.
May faced calls to fire Johnson, and had to insist that she remains in control, saying the government is "driven from the front."
In fact, the Cabinet is split between Brexit true believers, including Johnson, who want a sharp break with the EU, and those such as Hammond who want to soften the economic impact through a long status-quo transition period.
Britain hopes EU leaders will agree at an Oct. 19-20 meeting that "sufficient progress" has been made and the talks can move on to phase two: the future relations and trade between the U.K. and the bloc.
A senior EU official said Thursday that "it's too early to tell" whether the leaders can decide. The official briefed reporters only on condition that she not be named.
She affirmed that the October summit is not a deadline, saying "we all know that negotiations don't usually go according to our time plan, so we will take all the time needed."
Britain believes its departure and future relations are intertwined and must be discussed together.
The EU's Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, will meet with British negotiators next week for a new round of Brexit talks.
Barnier has repeatedly warned that time is of the essence. Britain is due to leave the EU on March 29, 2019, but any deal must be sealed by October 2018 to leave time for parliaments to endorse it.
