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In the dispute over the Brexit trade pact, a personal meeting at the highest level should bring the breakthrough. 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. Johnson and von der Leyen had previously called.
The president of the Commission had previously announced on Twitter that the conditions for an agreement had not yet been reached. There were still “differences on important issues,” von der Leyen wrote. Negotiators should now create an overview of differences of opinion and there should be more personal discussions in the coming days.
It was unclear when Johnson would be coming at the moment. As reported by the AFP news agency, the visit is not expected to take place on Tuesday. Wednesday would be possible because the last regular summit of EU heads of state and government starts on Thursday. The EU had always ruled out direct negotiations between the 27 member governments and the British side.
Recently, the British side wavered between willingness to speak and threats to meet deadlines. “We are ready to negotiate while there is time if we believe an agreement is still possible,” said a spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson. However, the spokesperson ruled out discussions until next year.
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. Without a trade deal, there will be tariffs and other trade barriers starting January 1.
The main points of contention remain the fair competition agreements between Britain and the EU, the fishing rights of EU fishers in British waters and the rules for sanctioning violations of the agreements.
Skepsis im EU-Parlament
In the face of mounting time pressure, Brexit experts in the European Parliament also expressed mounting anger on Monday. MEPs have yet to approve the deal.
Even if the negotiations were immediately successful, an official version of the contract could not be brought to parliament until December 23, said the leader of the left-wing parliamentary group, Martin Schirdewan, of the dpa news agency.
If it takes a few more days, the first date would be December 27. That does not allow for a full examination. “I think that’s very troublesome,” Schirdewan said.
