Breaking Brexit talks have nowhere to go

Brussels: On Monday, hopes for a post-Brexit deal between the British and Europeans were dashed, while diplomats warned that any deal must be reached before the EU summit this week.

European negotiator Michel Barnier told members of the European Parliament that Wednesday is the deadline for reaching a solution, while negotiations with his British counterpart David Frost took their place in Brussels.

Barnier and Frost met again on Monday in Brussels before returning with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson respectively.

On Saturday, the two officials agreed to give two additional days for negotiators to reach an agreement on post-Brisket relations, with less than a month until the end of the transition period on December 31.

On Monday, the British government ruled out negotiations next year in the event that a deal fell through during the current year.

All eyes are on the European Union summit on Thursday, where a draft agreement will be presented to the leaders of bloc 27, or failure will be acknowledged.

On Monday, European negotiator Barnier informed the ambassadors of the 27 member states that no progress had been made since the resumption of negotiations on Sunday, which lasted until midnight, according to diplomatic sources and Agence France-Presse.

The sticking points remain the same: hunting, the conditions for fair competition, and a future dispute resolution mechanism.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will assess the outcome of this “new effort” in the evening, which is seen as a last chance.

A European source said that a possible additional day for negotiations on Tuesday would be subject to this meeting.

A European diplomat confirmed: “We are reaching the end of the race, time is running out. Despite intense negotiations, the disparities have not been overcome.”

He noted that the European Union “is ready to go one step further to obtain a fair, sustainable and balanced agreement. The United Kingdom must choose between this positive separation or (exit) + no agreement +”.

London sent British Minister of State Michel Gove, close to Johnson, to Brussels for separate talks to discuss the implementation of the divorce agreement reached.

After meeting with the Vice President of the European Commission, Marus Sivkovic, the British government announced on Monday its willingness to abandon provisions in a Brexit bill that would reconsider the Brexit agreement on January 31.

In a statement, the British government said that “Britain and the European Union have worked constructively” to implement the Brexit agreement, and should they agree “in the next few days” on the solutions presented, London will withdraw from the draft of law on the internal market which is currently being studied by the British Parliament. International.

European Union officials held a video conference on Monday with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, according to a European source.

The source noted that the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, discussed the agenda of the European summit with the French and German parties, including the issue of Brexit.

Negotiators are under intense pressure due to the timing, as the British and European parliaments must ratify a possible 700-plus-page trade deal before it takes effect on January 1.

“The matter is becoming increasingly suspicious,” European representative Natalie Loiseau told AFP. “This will become unbearable in the coming days,” adding that the European Parliament intends to work “until the last days of December.”

Member states hope to reach an agreement but fear too great concessions to the British.

On Sunday, the French Minister of State for European Affairs, Clement Bonn, reiterated that in the event that an agreement is reached “not in accordance” with the interests of France, especially the interests of its fishermen, Paris could use its “veto “to block the deal.

European fishermen’s access to British waters remains a very sensitive issue for some Member States. British government sources said “there was no default” on Sunday.

As for the conditions of fair competition that supposedly guarantee a meeting point in terms of government aid and social and environmental standards, the difficulty lies in finding a mechanism that respects the sovereignty that London has recovered after its secession and that preserves European interests .

Germany, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, recalled that it would not accept an agreement “at any price”.

And Luxembourg Chancellor Jean Asselborn warned that “if the United Kingdom is responsible for the failure of the negotiations (…) it will be the only European country without a trade agreement” with the rest of the continent.

“If the souls are not ready, let’s meet next year,” Loiseau said, accusing London of not adopting “a constructive tone for a government preparing to sign an agreement, but a tone of revenge against the European Union.”

Regardless of the results of the negotiations on Monday night, the future relationship with London will, in any case, be one of the hot topics of the European summit to be held on Thursday and Friday in Brussels.

Since its official departure from the European Union on January 31, Britain has continued to apply European rules. However, its exit from the single market and the customs union will become effective at the end of the transitional period on December 31.

In the absence of an agreement, trade between London and the European Union will be subject, as of January 1, to the rules of the World Trade Organization, which means that tariffs and customs quotas will be imposed, increasing the risk of a shock to already weak economies from the Covid-19 epidemic.