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Negotiations on new trade relations between the UK and the EU will continue after the deadline as hopes for a deal have shone. The EU’s negotiating position has softened as the British fleet is set to blow a hole in the side of European fishing vessels after January 1 if they divert into the island’s territorial waters.
Although the position of the United Kingdom and the European Union is still far apart on the issue of a new trade agreement between the two countries, the hope that there will be an agreement has grown, writes the Financial Times. This is also exceptionally agreed in London and Brussels, as revealed in a telephone conversation on December 13 between Ursula van der Leyen, President of the European Commission, and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. In contrast to the tense person who met a few days earlier, this time the two leaders spoke to each other in a good mood.
The most important result, however, is that Sunday’s deadline has been pushed back until a deal until Christmas. The final deadline is December 31, 2020, after which the transition period between the parties will expire, which began at the end of January, when the de jure Brexit took place. At this stage, the parties were still negotiating under the previous EU terms (and could continue to do so for another two weeks). If an agreement is reached, the British and European Parliament can agree before New Year’s Eve. The pound has strengthened its reputation by one percent against the dollar and 0.8 percent against the euro.
Creative writing
The extension was decided after both parties saw an opportunity to break out of the impasse on the most important issue, the issue of competitive neutrality. The EU can only imagine free competition between UK and EU companies without the London government relaxing environmental and labor standards, giving island companies a competitive advantage. The British government, on the other hand, does not want a voice in how it regulates its own economy.
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab spoke at the end of the week that the EU should be ready to make real concessions in this area, then aimed to allow lawyers to introduce some legal tricks into the deal, let’s call it “drafting. creative “, to help the deal. obstacles to its adoption. EU negotiators also see that they have made progress towards an agreement.
Mechanisms
According to sources close to the case, the parties have managed to develop better mechanisms to help UK and EU companies comply with the environmental, labor and other standards they have set, even if EU and island regulations differ. Brussels suggested that either party could request consultations and impose duties immediately if it saw that its companies were at a competitive disadvantage due to the economic intervention of the other.
The British side had previously abstained from such rules, but the EU came up with ideas at the end of the week that took their concerns into account. These are details such as the role of arbitration in disputes or the criteria for linking economic damage.
Warships full of barrels
On the other critical issue, the issue of fishing, the parties have not been able to make substantial progress, so it is not yet known under what conditions European fishermen will fish in British territorial waters from January. Johnson was informed in the first half of December that the Royal Navy was ready to stop whatever was needed from the fishing boats coming from the EU in British waters. Admiral Nelson, the famous British sailor, is credited with saying that if a British lion becomes involved in a dispute with another country, there is no better argument to clear up the disagreements that some British warships present in that country’s ports. .
Michel Barner, the EU’s chief negotiator on Brexit, told permanent representatives of EU member states in Brussels that the deal could be reached this week. According to him, the British side has made concessions in the harmonization of economic regulations and the EU has made concessions in the field of fishing.
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