Theresa May meets Jean-Claude Juncker in unenviable position
Theresa May is heading to a crunch Brussels dinner with EU chiefs feeling the pressure from all sides over Brexit negotiations.
Monday 16 October 2017 19:27, UK
The last time Theresa May and Jean-Claude Juncker sat down for dinner, it didn't go too well.
It was spring, it was in Downing Street and - according to the leaks which quickly emerged - it was a tricky few hours.
"I am leaving Downing Street ten times more sceptical than I was before," the European Commission President was quoted as telling the Prime Minister as he left the meal.
The following day, as Mrs May accused EU officials of trying to meddle in the UK's General Election, Mr Juncker was on the phone to Angela Merkel with a debrief of the meeting.
He is reported to have told the German Chancellor that Mrs May was "on a different galaxy" over Brexit.
Plenty has happened since then - including elections in the two most influential EU nations, France and Germany, and - of course - Mrs May's own, disastrous election gamble.
And whether or not the Prime Minister was in a different galaxy, Mrs May has certainly felt inter-galactic centrifugal forces from all quarters: from her Cabinet, from her party and from businesses across the UK and Europe who are now beginning to panic about the prospect of no Brexit deal being reached.
On Monday, CEEMET, which represents over 200,000 firms in Europe, called on political leaders to deliver a "meaningful transitional arrangement" by the end of the year - or risk damaging complex and integrated supply chains irrevocably.
We know that UK firms are now thinking about activating their Brexit contingency plans.
They have to plan ahead and the Government's focus now seems to include preparing for no deal, despite the .
That Mrs May is here in Brussels shouldn't be a surprise.
Although they managed to keep the meeting a secret until Sunday night, I am told by good sources in both camps that a meeting between Mr Juncker and the PM has been an aspiration for a couple of weeks now.
The .
The EU side had hoped British officials would expand on Mrs May's one-line promise in her Florence speech that the UK would honour its financial commitments to the EU.
What did she mean by that? The UK side didn't elaborate in the negotiating room.
And so the central blockage, preventing the talks from moving to the all-important discussion of the future relationship, is money.
I am told by EU sources the more specific Mrs May can be on the financial commitments beyond 2020, the more "appreciated" it will be.
Will the Prime Minister come armed with a chequebook? Unlikely.
Back to those centrifugal forces.
Businesses want her to get on with it; commit some money some think, to allow talks on a transitional deal to begin.
But pulling hard against that is the right wing of the Conservative Party, who want nothing to be paid, and members of Mrs May's own Cabinet who don't want anything beyond our legal minimum to be handed over.
At some point, when the chequebook does come out, it will be necessary for some presentational tricks in order placate hard line Brexiteers.
It may be the EU side is willing to help Mrs May with this.
Because they know that if the Prime Minister is weakened even further domestically and is pushed from office, it would throw the negotiations into complete breakdown.
At last week's summit, the headline was EU lead negotiator Michel Barnier claiming the talks had reached a "disturbing deadlock".
But his closing line was much more upbeat and was seized upon in Downing Street.
"I remain convinced today that, with political will, decisive progress within two months is within our grasp," Mr Barnier said.
Mrs May has spoken by phone to the leaders of Germany, France and Ireland over the past 12 hours.
The Prime Minister is trying to foster the "political will".
It's all about political tactics, both domestically and on the continent. What an unenviable position she is in.