The idea London has not been specific enough in its proposals to the EU during Brexit negotiations is “pure fiction,” U.K. Brexit Secretary David Davis said in an interview published Wednesday.
“This summer I prepared 14 different policy papers at the request of the EU because they wanted everything in writing. So I said ‘fine,'” Davis told Danish daily Berlingske. He traveled to Denmark Wednesday to meet Foreign Minister Anders Samuelson as part of a diplomatic tour across Europe by government ministers to help unblock the stalled Brexit negotiations.
“We have delivered a large number of other papers and conducted negotiations, in addition to the many documents the EU received in connection with the actual announcement,” Davis said. “So [to say] that we have not been concrete enough is pure fiction.”
EU leaders have accused Britain of being high on rhetoric and low on detail during Brexit negotiations. In a speech earlier this month, the bloc’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said he was “wondering why … there is still today major uncertainty on each of the key issues of the first phase” of negotiations. European Council President Donald Tusk said Tuesday there is “no sufficient progress yet.”
“The Commission will not discuss [Britain’s future relationship with the bloc] before a number of other agreements are in place,” Davis told Berlingske, “But it is crucial that we get a free-trade and a customs agreement in place … Both parties must know that we have access to each other’s markets.”