Brexit: the UK concedes on European citizens’ rights whilst still firmly rejecting first draft of the treaty

On 28 February, and based on the initial agreement signed in December 2017, a draft Brexit treaty drawn up by the EU and for the first time formulated in legal text was presented in Brussels (c.f. article No. 10489 and No. 10490). The text was published ahead of a much-awaited Brexit speech by UK PM Theresa May set for Friday 02 March, and its 120 pages have triggered even more bitter exchanges, for the most part over the thorny questions of Northern Ireland and European citizens’ rights.
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“No United Kingdom prime minister could ever agree to it”, is how PM Theresa May reacted to the 168-article draft treaty, and implicitly calling for an immediate rewrite of the text. The most important hurdle is the Northern Ireland question. Europe has proposed a common regulatory area across the island of Ireland with the EU, something that the UK has completely ruled out since it calls the constitutional integrity of the UK into question. However tensions with the EU run deeper and further t

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