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In a few days, progress should be made in regulating the future relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday.
The United Kingdom withdrew from the European Union on January 31. On the day of his departure, a transitional period of 11 months began, the main objective of which is to allow time to agree on the terms of the future bilateral relationship. Above all, at the end of the transition period on December 31, the British government intends to reach a comprehensive free trade agreement with the EU.
However, Johnson said the other day: London sees October 15 as the deadline, and if no deal is reached by then, it sees no possibility of a free trade deal between the UK and the EU.
A Downing Street spokesperson said the British Prime Minister had a telephone conversation with Merkel on Sunday night, confirming that the British government is seeking a deal, but will move forward in the coming days to bridge the remaining significant differences, particularly on fisheries regulation and equal conditions.
Johnson said the leaders of the UK and EU negotiating delegations needed to negotiate intensively to do so. A Downing Street spokesman in his briefing on Sunday night did not detail when the EU chief negotiator David Frost and the EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier will get back in touch.
The latest and ninth round of negotiations on a future bilateral relationship ended on October 2, and no concrete announcements have been made since then for further official rounds.
In his statement after the end of the ninth round, Frost said that there were very large differences of opinion on one of the most controversial issues, the regulation of fishing. According to the wording of the British Head of Negotiations at the time, if the EU is not more realistic and flexible on this issue than it is today, there is a risk that it will be impossible to bridge these differences.
A Downing Street spokesman told Boris Johnson in a Sunday night telephone conversation with the German Chancellor that while it would be beneficial to both parties to move forward in the coming days, London is ready to move to “Australian-type” trade terms. after the transition period. no agreement can be reached with the EU. Australia and the EU have been negotiating a free trade agreement for two years, but currently do not have a separate bilateral trade agreement.
The ‘Australian-type’ terms of trade, regularly mentioned by the British government as options, would in fact mean that trade between the UK and the EU would continue under the general rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO) from January , with tariffs in current trade without obstacles.
The Brexit transition period will end.
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