Theresa May is to return to Brussels on Thursday seeking fresh concessions despite the EU’s insistence that the bloc will not renegotiate the Brexit deal.
The European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, will host the prime minister just 24 hours after a meeting with the Irish taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, in the Belgian capital.
May is expected to formally seek the reopening of the withdrawal agreement on the back of the passing of the so-called Brady amendment last week calling for “alternative arrangements” to replace the contentious Irish backstop.
During a meeting with a group of MPs on Monday, Juncker’s trusted aide Martin Selmayr said a formal request for a renegotiation had yet to be tabled by Downing Street.
Selmayr, the commission’s secretary-general, ruled out the reopening of the withdrawal agreement. But he asked the cross-party delegation from the select committee for exiting the EU if they would support the deal if an additional legal assurance on the temporary nature of the backstop was made.
The Brexiters in the visiting group were unable to offer a clear response, leading to Selmayr to later tweet that he was reassured that the EU had been right to start its no-deal preparations in 2017.
Selmayr also denied MPs’ claims that his comments amounted to an offer of a legal adjunct to the withdrawal agreement.
On Tuesday, the commission’s chief spokesman said a press officer had been in the room taking notes as “this was a meeting that would be likely to be misrepresented”.
He said: “I can tell you that I am very well informed that what you have read in the sec general’s tweet is exactly what happened.”
Brexiters want the Irish backstop, which foresees the UK staying in a customs union to avoid a hard Irish border should there be no alternative, to be ripped out of the withdrawal agreement, or amended to be limited in time.
The EU’s leaders insist that the backstop is necessary to avoid any possibility of a hard border and a breakdown in the peace process.
Asked if the EU expected new proposals from May, the commission spokesman declined to speculate. “For us, as you now the backstop which is part of the withdrawal agreement, is the central piece, is of fundamental importance”, the spokesman added.