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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will travel to Brussels in the next few days to clear up the toughest issues with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the EU Commission announced Monday evening after the Johnson’s phone call with von der Leyen.
London has categorically ruled out resuming talks in the next year if current negotiations fail, but signaled a willingness to compromise with a view to its controversial internal market law. The EU Commission also announced that they agreed that the conditions for the cancellation of the agreement were not there. There are also important differences in the three themes of competitive conditions, control and fishing.
Ireland’s Prime Minister Micheal Martin said the odds of a deal were “fifty percent”. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Prime Minister Boris Johnson want to decide on Monday night whether it makes sense to continue the talks.
“Time is running out quickly,” warned an EU diplomat. The EU is ready to “go one step further” to reach a “fair, sustainable and balanced” agreement. Now it is up to Britain whether it wants a deal or not. “These will be crucial hours,” said another diplomat.
French MEP Nathalie Loiseau said after Barnier’s briefing that the EU negotiator believes a decision should be made no later than Wednesday, this would be the day before the EU heads of state and government summit in Brussels. . The liberal stressed that the EU Parliament could already ratify the agreement, which will probably have more than 700 pages, at best “in the last days of December.”
A spokesman for UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said his administration is “ready to negotiate while there is time if we believe a deal is still possible.” However, with a view to extending the talks until next year, he emphasized: “I can rule that out.” If the EU does not give in on the three central issues, “it is not possible to reach an agreement” from Johnson’s point of view.
Meanwhile, the British government has been willing to compromise on its internal market law, which has been harshly criticized by the EU. Under certain conditions, it is ready to remove clauses from the law that could nullify parts of the EU withdrawal treaty, the government said. London’s announcement of a revision of the law could now give negotiators in Brussels significant additional time.
Britain left the EU on February 1. However, it will remain in the EU internal market and in the customs union until the end of the year. In fact, both parties wanted to use this transition phase to negotiate a trade agreement. The talks have barely advanced for months. Meanwhile, the time for a timely ratification of a possible agreement before January 1 is extremely short.
Without an agreement, customs duties would be imposed on mutual trade by the end of the year. Trade associations expect not only massive border jams in delivery traffic, but also billions in additional costs and lost revenue.
The French Secretary of State for Europe, Clément Beaune, affirmed on Sunday the threat of a veto from his country if an agreement does not satisfy French interests, particularly in the area of fishing. This question is also particularly important for other EU countries, such as Denmark and Spain, although fishing has a fairly small share of the overall economy compared to other areas.
European Minister Karoline Edtstadler (ÖVP) believes that an agreement with Great Britain is still possible. “The time for this is very short, but I still think that it is possible to reach an agreement,” he said before the consultations of the EU ministers for Europe.
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