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Talks on Brexit have dragged on into the wee hours of the night as both sides fought on their corners as the clock ticked to the deadline for a trade deal.
It was reported that several pizza boxes were delivered to the location of the talks last night.
EU and UK officials are trying to reach an agreement before the end of the transition period on December 31.
Negotiations continued after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson insisted that the UK’s “bottom line” in a post-Brexit trade deal is to “regain control.”
He said he was “absolutely committed” to trying to secure a deal “if we can” amid warnings that talks with the EU have reached a point of “success or failure”.
EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier briefed the ambassadors of the 27 member states on the latest negotiations amid little sign of progress on key issues.
He was said to have cautioned that significant differences remain on fisheries, state aid rules and governance arrangements for any deal.
Current trade deals expire at the end of the month, and failure to reach an agreement would cause major economic disruption.
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Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said he believed there was a good chance that the UK and the EU would reach a trade deal in a few days.
“Now is the time to keep our nerves and trust Michel Barnier. And I think if we do, there is a good chance that we can reach an agreement in the next few days,” Coveney told Newstalk.
Coveney said it is very dangerous to assume that if there is no deal now, there will be in the first half of 2021.
He said he thinks the UK wants a deal, but it doesn’t always behave that way.
Meanwhile, German MEP David McAllister of the European Parliament’s Brexit coordination group, who also met with Barnier, said they had reached a “critical moment” in the negotiations.
He said a deal needed to be reached “in a very few days” if parliament and member states were to complete the necessary “procedures” before the Brexit transition period ends at the end of the year.
“This is the critical moment when principles need to be translated into rules and, more importantly, rules need to be ensured by a strong enforcement framework,” he tweeted.
At a press conference in Downing Street, Johnson said: “I think our friends know what the bottom line of the UK is and why people voted on 23 June 2016 – they voted to regain control.”
“It’s about making sure the UK can manage its own laws, its own fisheries, etc.”
His press secretary, Allegra Stratton, said Johnson still had “the most confidence” in UK chief negotiator David Frost.
However, he said he was “comfortable” that Britain would continue to prosper if it failed to reach a deal and was forced to move on to dealing with the EU on the terms of the World Trade Organization.
“The talks are ongoing at the moment and he has the utmost confidence in David Frost and the team,” he told a briefing for Westminster reporters.
“He is optimistic, but he has also always said that he is confident and comfortable that we would be fine without a deal.
“If you can come to an agreement that’s good, but he’s also confident that we can move towards trade on what he calls Australian terms.”
While both sides have acknowledged that time is running out, there have been no signs that either side is ready to make a decisive move that can solve the problem one way or another.
On Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron warned he would not accept a deal that “would not respect our long-term interests” amid concerns in Paris that Barnier is preparing to cede ground over fishing rights.
Additional reports: Reuters
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