Michel Barnier: Brexit talks will get to ‘heart of the matter’

Citizens’ rights, Northern Ireland, the Brexit bill and separation issues will be discussed this week.

The second round of Brexit talks will “delve into the heart of the matter,” the European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said Monday.

Ahead of the first detailed negotiating sessions, Barnier and his opposite number, Brexit Secretary David Davis, said that the menu for the talks would include citizens’ rights, the U.K.’s financial obligations to the EU — known as the Brexit bill — separation issues and Northern Ireland.

All of the topics have created controversy, as European Parliament lawmakers criticized the U.K.’s “settled status” offer on EU residents in the U.K., threatening to veto any Brexit deal if the offer isn’t improved. British officials have scoffed at the rumored asking price of the Brexit bill going around the EU, and the negotiating teams found Ireland to the most challenging subject when they met last month. Other “separation issues” like the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice and ownership of nuclear material if the U.K. leaves the European Atomic Energy Community, also known as Euratom, may become equally thorny.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who was also in Brussels, emphasized the British offer on citizens’ rights, calling it “very fair” and “serious.” Johnson added: “I hope very much that people will look at the offer in the spirit it deserves.”

Davis said the teams will try to identify similarities in the negotiating positions to “reinforce” them, and identify differences so that the teams can “deal with” them.

The current round of negotiations will continue until Thursday, Barnier said.