(Reuters) The European Union has so far rebuffed British calls for talks on a deal to allow London to send unwanted migrants back to Europe from 2021, and could use the issue as potential leverage in wider Brexit negotiations, diplomats and officials said.
The agenda for this week’s EU-UK talks on their future relationship after a post-Brexit transition period runs out at the end of 2020 did not include specific talks on returning migrants, though London has long pressed for such a deal.
Brussels diplomats and officials following discussions on Britain’s departure from the bloc told Reuters the EU was playing hard to get, believing an agreement on migrants was more important to Britain than the bloc’s 27 member states.
