Brexit: EU Commission Fears Talks ‘Bugged’ by British Spies

EU's Barnier warns Brexit deal at risk over Irish border
AFP
Virginia Hale

Top European Union (EU) officials fear that Brexit negotiations in Brussels are being “bugged” by Britain’s secret services, which they believe has managed to gain access to top secret information, according to reports.

According to the Daily Telegraph, negotiators began to suspect espionage after Britain allegedly obtained sensitive documents relating to Brexit “within hours” of them being presented to a meeting of EU and UK officials last month.

Sabine Weyand, Brussels’ deputy chief negotiator, raised security concerns at a meeting on July 13, asserting “it could not be excluded” that British spies had infiltrated the talks, a “highly placed” source in Brussels told the Telegraph.

Fears emerged after British negotiators reportedly gained access to information contained in a “politically explosive” slide presentation shared between Brussels figures on July 5, the day before a Chequers summit where Theresa May unveiled ultra-soft Brexit plans which prompted resignations from a number of pro-Leave ministers.

Within hours of their presentation, Britain was lobbying at the “highest level” to block publication of the slides, which reportedly contained “highly negative” analysis from Brussels of the Prime Minister’s concession-laden plans to keep the UK in the single market.

The contents of the presentation “raise serious questions about the political viability of Mrs May’s Brexit plan”, said the Telegraph, reporting that the European Commission’s assessments “would destroy British arguments” that Brussels should allow the UK some degree of so-called cherry-picking in divorce proceedings.

While their source neglected to go into detail regarding Britain’s lobbying at the “highest level”, the newspaper noted that the slides remained unpublished while the Prime Minister and Germany’s Angela Merkel met at short notice to declare that Brexit talks were about to enter a “crucial phase”.
A spokesman for the unelected body told journalists at a regular briefing in Brussels the European Commission “cannot comment” on the claims, while a Whitehall source branded the report “nonsense”.

Earlier this week Breitbart London reported that Euroskeptic Conservative MPs are drawing up “positive” Brexit plans of their own to counter Mrs May’s unpopular proposals, which Leavers warn would keep Britain chained to Brussels regarding EU regulations. and render the nation unable to make its own trade deals.

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