Brexit talks: Johnson threatens “no deal”

The British prime minister is increasing the pressure in the negotiations with Brussels. If there is no agreement between the EU and the UK in mid-October, there will be no contract.

Shortly before the next round of talks on a Brexit follow-up deal, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called for the EU to be quicker and more accommodating. An agreement had to be reached in mid-October so that it could still be ratified. Otherwise, there will be no free trade agreement between Britain and the European Union, Johnson said. Instead, London is based on an agreement with the EU based on the Australian model.

So far, the EU has only one framework agreement with Australia, which, among other things, affects technical barriers. In general, trade between Europe and the continent is carried out on the basis of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Applied to Great Britain, this would correspond to the “no deal”. This is even a “good result for the UK,” Johnson said. An agreement would only be possible if the EU negotiators “reconsidered their current positions”.

New round of negotiations on Tuesday

Top British negotiator David Frost spoke in an even sharper tone on Sunday: He fully agreed with Johnson that Britain had nothing to fear from a no-deal Brexit. “I don’t think we’re scared in any way,” Frost told the Mail on Sunday.

According to a report in the Financial Times newspaper, citing three people familiar with the plans, the British government also wanted to pass laws on Wednesday that would suspend parts of the Brexit deal on state aid and border regulations with Ireland that had been in place for months. Talks with Brussels could spell stalemate.

EU negotiator Michel Barnier is expected to be in London on Tuesday. Britain left the EU at the end of January. In a transitional phase until the end of the year, the country will continue to be part of the EU internal market and customs union, so almost nothing has changed in everyday life. If no contract on future relationships is successful, there could be a sharp economic break with tariffs and other trade barriers in early 2021.