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Taoiseach Micheál Martin has urged EU leaders to “hold the nerve” as negotiators try to reach a trade deal with the UK before Brexit takes effect on January 1.
Recognizing the mounting pressure to secure a deal, Mr. Martin said EU leaders must give the bloc’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, the space to “reach an agreement on the line.”
“Now we are at a very critical and delicate point in the negotiations. I want a deal to be made and I think an agreement is possible, ”he said at a webinar organized in Dublin.
In a thinly veiled reference to warnings from other countries, including France, the Netherlands and Denmark, about handing over too much ground to the UK, the Taoiseach said it trusted Barnier and his negotiators to achieve “a balanced deal.”
Some EU states are pushing for negotiations to be extended rather than rushing a quick deal on bad terms. Mr Martin said that an agreement is better than no agreement, but that an agreement cannot be reached “at any cost” and the EU has to “weigh and balance the interests of those we have to represent”.
“The pressures increase as the end of a negotiation situation is reached. We can feel that in our Sherpa meetings, ”he said, referring to senior officials who represent the 27 EU leaders in contacts between member states.
“My point of view is to maintain value. The negotiations are intensifying but we cannot have 27 negotiating, we cannot all be negotiators at the table. We have to have faith and trust in the negotiating team to reach a balanced agreement. ”
The Taoiseach spoke at a webinar on Brexit and future relations between Ireland, Great Britain and the European Union, hosted by Fianna Fáil MEP Barry Andrews.
Mr. Martin said that it was clear that “the landing zone” existed for an agreement given the substantial work completed in preparing texts on all key negotiating issues.
A deal without tariffs or quotas “would make a big difference” in the sustainability of trade between Ireland and Britain, Martin said, while a no-deal Brexit would have a “severe” impact on Ireland’s agri-food business and the West Coast border counties, north and south.
The Taoiseach said he was concerned that small and medium-sized businesses are poised for the “dramatic increase” in the volume of border customs declarations and documentation that will be required for trade with Britain even if there is an agreed trade deal between the two parties. . .
Britain formally left the EU in January, but a transitional period leaves EU rules in place until the end of the year to allow individuals and businesses to prepare for deals that have yet to be agreed. EU rules on the internal market and the customs union will cease to apply to Britain on January 1.
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