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Updated 21 minutes ago
EUROPEAN LEADERS HAVE demanded that Britain give ground to distant trade rules to unblock stalled post-Brexit negotiations, enraging London and jeopardizing the fate of the talks.
The 27 leaders of the bloc arrived for a summit in Brussels expressing cautious optimism but, in their written conclusions, urged the EU and its member states to intensify preparations for a chaotic “no-deal” exit.
However, his calls for urgency were balanced by an invitation for Britain to continue speaking next week in London and in Brussels the following week.
“Starting tomorrow I will speak with my counterpart David Frost. On Monday we will be in London all week, including the weekend if necessary, “said EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier after addressing the leaders.
“That is what I have proposed to the British team,” Barnier said.
The invitation comes after a warning from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson that he could walk away from the negotiations unless the results of the summit point to a breakthrough.
The EU never acknowledged its deadline and in its conclusions assigned Johnson the responsibility of salvaging a deal as time runs out.
In an unusually irritable tweet, UK’s Frost said he was “disappointed” by the summit’s conclusions, underlining that they “no longer committed to working ‘hard’ towards a future partnership” as previously promised.
Frost also scoffed at the EU accusation that only Britain should give in, calling it “an unusual approach to conducting a negotiation.”
Johnson would decide his next move on Friday, he said.
‘Good compromise’
Tempers flared despite signs that Europeans seemed open to moving on one of their hard red lines, fishing.
French President Emmanuel Macron hinted at a possible compromise on the thorny issue of fishing rights, saying he was open to finding a “good compromise” that would guarantee French fishermen’s access to UK waters.
The insistence of France and other northern fishing nations on maintaining access to British waters has been a key stumbling block in the talks so far.
“We know that we will have to make an effort. This effort must be reasonable, ”Barnier said.
Coming to the summary this morning, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that Brexit is one of the main concerns in the talks and that fishing is of particular importance to Ireland.
“I look forward to an assessment from Michel Barnier, our chief negotiator regarding the status of those talks at this time,” he said.
The issues of great concern remain a level playing field that is important to Europe, the governance of any subsequent agreements that are reached between the UK and Europe, and clearly fisheries, which is very important to us in Ireland. That our coastal communities are protected in a comprehensive Brexit agreement through a reasonable and fair fisheries agreement
European leaders have tried to keep Brexit off the agenda at their recent summits but, in a sign that the issue was heating up, they were ordered to leave their phones out of the room during the discussion.
The official statement offers little to Johnson, abandoning the line in an earlier draft that asked Barnier to “step up” his discussions with Frost.
During the call to Johnson on the eve of the crisp talks, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen warned that “there is still a lot of work ahead”, adding that Brussels wants a deal, but “not at any price.”
In a surprising twist, as the summit progressed, she was forced to leave the venue and isolate herself after a member of her office tested positive for coronavirus.
‘Approaching the track’
Barnier said the talks could last until the end of October, the approximate date set by the EU to allow enough parliamentary time to ratify the deal before the Brexit transition expires on December 31.
But the British side has accused Brussels of trying to force concessions by running against the clock.
Diplomats in recent days said there had been some movement from Britain, but not enough to justify locking the negotiators in a so-called “diplomatic tunnel” to force the talks to the finish line.
Fair Competition Rules
Britain left the European Union on January 31, but Barnier and Frost have been caught in the moths of inconclusive talks about a follow-up trade deal.
If no agreement is reached, the trade rules will revert to the ground rules of the World Trade Organization.
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Both parties insist they are prepared for this, and would rather have to accept a bad deal, but experts predict a serious economic disruption.
Europe’s top three concerns are agreeing on the rules of fair competition, how these rules will be controlled, and ensuring access to UK waters for EU fishing fleets.
Britain wants to reassert sovereignty over its waters and reject EU legal oversight over the deal, insisting it wants a simple trade deal of the kind the EU signed with Canada.
Brussels, in turn, stresses that the British economy is much more integrated and closer to that of the EU than Canada’s, and that its single market must be protected from British recidivism.
© – AFP 2020 with a report by Rónán Duffy
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