Brexit: little chance of a deal: Brits blame Merkel for Brexit – foreign policy

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There is still a glimmer of hope for a Brexit deal on Sunday, a new trade pact between the UK and the EU starting on January 1, the end of the transition period. But the ball game because of the now probable failure is already in full swing.

As one of the most widely circulated newspapers in the country, the “Mail on Sunday” targets Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU). “Merkel wants Britain to crawl on broken glass,” the newspaper headlined, referring to an anonymous government source.

And in its online edition, the headline reads: “‘Mrs. No’ Block the Deal.” His hard line, the report says, has meant that 80 percent of the time there will be no deal.

In Berlin and Brussels, the prosecution should make your head shake. Something has changed in Merkel’s negotiating line, as well as in the attitude of the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier. From the beginning, the EU side stated that the British could continue to have access to the internal market after leaving the Union if they continued to adhere to the rules, but that “there would be no choice”.

In her press conference after the EU summit, Merkel reaffirmed this line, which has the support of the 27 heads of state and government. Y: For your part, you urged the British to be more willing to engage in the dispute over the fishing rights of EU fishermen in British waters, which were based on centuries-old agreements.

Photo: PISCINA / Reuters

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The British threaten the use of the Navy in the fishing dispute

Britain left the EU at the beginning of the year. There is still a transition period until the end of the year, during which almost everything will remain the same. If no trade pact has been agreed by then, there is a risk of high tariffs and other trade barriers. The main points of contention are the issues of fair competition and European fishermen’s access to British waters.

The tone has become noticeably sharper recently: in the dispute over fishing rights, London announced that, if necessary, it would protect coastal waters from EU fishing trawlers with Royal Navy vessels. The European Commission recently proposed keeping the current rules for now in case the talks fail. London’s announcement to call the Royal Navy to the scene should have been a clear rejection of this proposal.

That would mean a no-deal Brexit

in case of a No offers not only trade would be affected, but also other areas, such as the fight against cross-border crime. Former director of the European police authority Europol, Max-Peter Ratzel, expressed concern about the stalled negotiations on Saturday. “As a European, I am concerned that we are losing some of our skills,” the German told British news channel Sky News. As a Brit, I would be even more concerned. “Naturally, you lose more than us,” he told the British. This is due to the difference in size between Great Britain and the European Union as a block of states.

Both parties would do so in the event of a No offers lose access to important databases. London, for example, would have to do without the Schengen information system, in which data on wanted criminals can be retrieved.

Ratzel therefore called on the politicians, even in the case of a No offers find ways of greater cooperation in the field of police and justice.