Barnier demands respect and offers weasel

Demands of the day job stopped me from reporting this yesterday (oh dear -- actually 2 days ago):

EU-UK trade talks break up early over 'serious' disagreements

EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier complained of lack of respect and engagement by UK

The bit that leapt out for me was the 'lack of respect'. What was this? Frost drunk and mooning in the  meetings? Not switching off his XBox? We are given no details, only that: 'the British government had been late in providing the necessary information to allow a decision to be made', relating to the thousand page questionnaire (see earlier blog)

On that issue:

 a row continues over the failure of both sides to provide “equivalence” judgements by the end of June to allow financial service operators to continue to work across the UK and the EU.

Apart from that, it is nearly all about Barnier, as per established Grau practice :

The former French minister said Brussels had “listened carefully” to Boris Johnson when he had told the EU’s institutional leaders two weeks ago during a videoconference he wanted “political agreement” over the summer on the terms of a deal....Barnier added that the EU recognised the British red lines of “no role for the European court of justice in the UK; no obligation for the UK to continue to be bound by EU law; and an agreement on fisheries that shows Brexit makes a real difference”....The EU has hinted at a willingness to drop its initial asks of EU state aid being incorporated into domestic UK legislation, non-regression from the bloc’s environmental, social and labour regulations and the effective continuation of the common fisheries policy.

But he suggested the EU’s willingness to be flexible on its initial demands in light of the British positions had not been met with similar understanding from Downing Street over Brussels’ red lines.

El Graun has not told us what these red lines are exactly, or how Barnier has 'recognised' the British red lines. Is it a matter of bureaucratic obsession for detail and small print? Or an eternal time scale? There is the unmistakeable scent of weasel, if you will pardon a mammalian substitute in the metaphor.

[it turns on] plans for how the UK’s domestic subsidy regime will work from the end of the year...[on] a “sustainable and long-term solution” on fisheries, taking into account the needs of European fishermen for certainty over their livelihoods and an effective all-encompassing dispute settlement mechanism to ensure both sides stick to their obligations....[and] parallel progress on all areas

Which is presumably code for some sophist's workaround, showing very little willingness to be flexible over the substance at all?