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British Prime Minister Johnson will appear before the press around 9 am Member states are reportedly supposed to prepare for a meeting on December 24. More recently, the talks had reached a dead end, especially on the subject of fishing.
In the fight for a post-Brexit trade deal, a deal becomes apparent shortly before Christmas Eve. After hours of negotiations on Thursday night, according to the BBC, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will speak again with the president of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, at 8 am (CET). Johnson’s press conference is planned around 9 a.m.
According to internal sources, an agreement between the EU and Great Britain will be announced on Thursday morning. One “is going over the details,” an EU representative said overnight.
The comprehensive trade agreement is designed to avoid a severe economic breakdown at the last minute. The transitional phase of Brexit will end on December 31 and Britain will leave the EU internal market and customs union. Without an agreement, there is the risk of tariffs and trade barriers.
Conditions of competition, fishing
It was “in the final phase”, it had already been said on Wednesday afternoon from the circles of the EU Commission. From various other sources it was said that the very difficult point of fair competition has now been cleared up. The second obstacle, fishing, is now very close.
According to internal sources, the EU Commission has asked representatives of member states to prepare for a meeting on Thursday in the event of a Brexit deal. They were informed of this in a meeting with the Commission. “It seems that the deal is as good as there,” said a diplomat. It is unclear if it will be announced during the day or on Thursday.
Preparations had started to launch an interim and rapid implementation of an agreement. It is unclear, among other things, how the EU Parliament, which had demanded an agreement for ratification before the end of the year, will react last Sunday.
More recently, negotiations that have been going on for months have mainly revolved around issues such as future fishing rights and the rules for fair competition. The UK was significantly less optimistic that a deal could still be reached. The UK has not been a formal member of the EU since January. However, there is still a transition period until December 31, during which the Union rules continue to apply. If the deadline expires without a new agreement, the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO) would apply to trade. The experts then expect chaos at the borders.
(APA / Reuters)
