[ad_1]
Updated 3 hours ago
EU HEAD OF NEGOTIATION Michel Barnier has warned there are “only a few hours” left to reach a post-Brexit trade deal with the UK, as talks resume today.
Barnier said there is a chance of reaching an agreement in time for the end of the transition period on Dec. 31, but said the road to breakthrough is “very narrow.”
His warning came after Boris Johnson told European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that the EU must “significantly” change its stance on seeking a deal.
Today, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said “very significant difficulties” remain in the talks on the Brexit trade deal between the EU and the UK, particularly in relation to fisheries.
His analysis came as leaders north and south of the Irish border voiced support for a trade deal.
The issue was debated at Friday’s virtual meeting of the North-South Ministerial Council.
Martin said: “If we achieve a future substantive relationship agreement between the UK and the EU, that would make life much easier for all of us and, in particular, would give certainty and clarity to companies and workers in the North and South “.
The Taoiseach said a deal would present opportunities for everyone on the island of Ireland.
“Above all, it would give certainty and clarity to companies on the island of Ireland, for workers on the island of Ireland in terms of their future and certainly an agreement would very significantly reduce any damage and disruption that would clearly arise from a no I deal, ”he added.
Stormont Prime Minister Arlene Foster said: “We all agree that the best way forward is to agree on the future relationship between the UK and the European Union.
“I think that is very important. That is the only point of unanimity on Brexit, I would say, but it is something that I think you can take as very clear. “
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said: “We all agree that a free trade agreement between the UK and the EU is in our best interest and in the interests of businesses, workers, farmers and fishermen in the North and South.
“So we will use whatever influence we have to try to secure that deal for the next few days.”
Varadkar cautioned that the queues at Holyhead ports were likely due to storage.
However, the Tanaiste cautioned that there are likely to be delays in ferry travel between Ireland and Britain, regardless of whether a trade agreement is reached between the UK and the EU or not.
“I think any delay at the ports that is occurring at the moment is likely to be related to stockpiling, many companies will want to fill their warehouses before there is a deal or no deal, as the case may be when it comes to Brexit,” he said at a press conference after Friday’s meeting of the North South Ministerial Council.
The present day
The EU has set the latest deadline by which a deal must be ready on Sunday night to allow enough time for MEPs to ratify it, while the House of Commons has been warned that it may have to rush back from the Christmas break to vote on a deal. .
“This is the moment of truth,” Barnier told the European Parliament in Brussels.
“We have very little time left, just a few hours, to work through these negotiations in a useful way if we want this agreement to go into effect on January 1.
“There is a possibility of reaching an agreement, but the path to that agreement is very narrow.”
He said he was being “frank with you and open and sincere” when he said he couldn’t say what the outcome of the “last stretch of the negotiations” will be.
No news is bad news
Support the magazine
your contributions help us continue to deliver the stories that are important to you
Support us now
Johnson and von der Leyen took stock of the negotiations on a call last night.
The EU chief acknowledged that “great differences” persist between the two parties and stressed that “overcoming them will be a great challenge.”
Johnson tweeted after the call to say that he told von der Leyen that “time is short and the position of the EU must change substantially.”
Downing Street said the British prime minister warned that it seemed “very likely” that a deal would not be reached unless the bloc changed its stance.
Agreement on a “level playing field” was approaching to ensure that neither side could compete unfairly by eroding environmental standards, worker rights or state subsidies, but fisheries policy remained a major obstacle.
Johnson warned that the UK “could not accept a situation” where it could not control access to its waters and would have fishing quotas that “would greatly harm its own industry,” according to a spokeswoman for No. 10.
“The position of the EU in this area was simply not reasonable and if there was an agreement it had to change significantly,” he added.
Barnier’s counterpart at Issue 10, David Frost, warned that progress “appears stalled” before talks in Brussels resume.
“The situation in our talks with the EU is very serious tonight. Progress seems blocked and time is running out, ”he tweeted yesterday.
Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove, who has been in charge of the government’s no-deal planning, said Thursday that the chances of a deal remained “less than 50%.”
He told the Commons Brexit committee that the “most likely outcome” was that the transition period would end on December 31 without a deal.
[ad_2]