MIDDAY BRIEF, IN BRIEF

Today at Commission, no Brexit meddling

Brexit talks will start in June, says Commission chief spokesman.

A day after British Prime Minister Theresa May announced a snap general election on June 8 the main question in the Commission’s midday briefing was whether the election would change the schedule of Brexit talks.

In a nutshell, no. At least not according to the Commission’s chief spokesperson Margaritis Schinas.

Schinas confirmed that May and Jean-Claude Juncker spoke on the phone on Tuesday night and agreed that Brexit talks will take place after the election.

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“Negotiations were meant to start in June,” Schinas said. EU27 leaders will discuss their Brexit negotiations guidelines on April 29, the Commission will issue its recommendations on May 3 and it will be up to EU affairs ministers to approve the EU’s Brexit mandate — probably on May 22.

Schinas added that the Commission will be staying well away from the British election. “It is a matter for British voters,” he said, adding “I do not imagine the Commission campaigning on the context of the British parliamentary election.”

It will be worth watching if the EU institutions stick to that neutrality line when the British election campaign kicks in and Brexit figures — such as the €60 billion divorce bill — are bandied about.

Schinas also clarified that the European Medicines Agency and the European Banking Authority “must be based in the territory of the European Union” after the U.K. leaves the bloc, shouting down claims to the contrary from Brexit Secretary David Davis.

“The U.K. will have no say in the relocation” of those agencies, said Schinas.

Flying to Washington

Several commissioners, including Juncker, will be spending the rest of the week in Washington for the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

Schinas could not confirm if Juncker will discuss the Greek bailout situation with IMF chief Christine Lagarde. Those meetings, Schinas said, “are a big mass where everybody speaks with everybody.”