Think Brits are bored of talking about the B-word? Imagine what it’s like in Brussels

Even Michel ‘Mr Brexit’ Barnier himself has run out of things to say about Britain’s departure from the EU

You may have noticed Brexit hasn’t been in the news as much recently – as least compared to the blanket coverage of the past year. What you may not know is it has also, rather suddenly, dropped off the agenda in Brussels, too.

This hit home for me this week when Michel Barnier gave a speech at a Belgian university. Barnier’s only job is Brexit negotiator – it’s not like he has anything else to do (at least officially). And yet, ahead of the address, his team warned ever-hungry British journalists, in quite stark terms: there won’t be much new in it, they said, and it won’t really be about Brexit.

If even Michel “Mr Brexit” Barnier himself has run out of things to say about Britain’s departure, you can probably guess how the rest of the European Union capital is faring. Officials I’ve spoken to this week – including those usually quite interested in the subject – are more focused on the upcoming European parliament elections. Or really just about anything else. Everyone here has turned over the different theories, scenarios and predictions a hundred times already, and decided they have no idea what’s going to happen.