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“Trade negotiations are over: the EU has effectively ended them by announcing that it does not accept a change in negotiating position,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman was quoted as saying by Reuters.
“Trade negotiations are useless if the EU does not change position. The EU effectively ended the negotiations yesterday. Only if the EU fundamentally changes its position will it be worth discussing,” the British official said.
The EU said the negotiating team will travel to London next week to continue negotiations. Asked about it, the British government spokesman replied: “It would make sense for the negotiator Michel Barnier to come to London for just one thing, if he is willing to discuss all the issues on the basis of the legal texts in an expedited manner, without Britain is forced to take all the steps. Or if she wants to talk about practical matters, like travel and transportation.
The Downing Street representative said negotiations on the implementation of the transitional regulations in Northern Ireland, part of Britain, will continue.
The European Union will continue negotiations with the United Kingdom to reach an agreement on post-Brexit relations, but such an agreement is not desired at all costs, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday. “EU-UK negotiations: The European Union continues its efforts to reach an agreement, but not at any cost. As planned, our team will travel to London next week to intensify the negotiations,” Ursula von der Leyen said on Twitter .
The European Union warned Britain in a statement adopted at the Brussels summit that progress in the negotiations on post-Brexit relations was insufficient, urging member states to prepare even for the end-of-transition scenario without any agreement. . Charles Michel, president of the European Council, also said that the European Union wanted a deal on post-Brexit relations with the UK, “but not at any price.”
David Frost, Boris Johnson’s government negotiator on Brexit, said Thursday night that he was “disappointed” by the conclusions of the European Union summit. For his part, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who does not accept the extension of the transition or the concessions to maintain EU standards, said on Friday that the United Kingdom should begin preparations due to the lack of an agreement with the European Union after post-Brexit transition expires.
Emmanuel Macron reminds the UK that the decision to withdraw from the EU belongs to him
French President Emmanuel Macron said at the end of the EU summit on Friday that negotiations with the UK were stalling in many ways, recalling that Brexit is “the sovereign choice of the British people,” Mediafax reports.
When asked by a journalist if he was willing to block a future deal with the UK just for fishing quotas, Emmanuel Macron replied: “I think you are a victim of poisoning, it is not food poisoning, but information poisoning. Negotiations are not stalled just because of fishing, which is just a British tactical argument, they are stalled because of everything. Everything, “Emmanuel Macron was quoted as saying by Reuters.
“We are also very unhappy with Brexit. But it is the sovereign choice of the British people. And it also happens that the leaders of the 27 countries that remained in the EU are not here just to make the British Prime Minister happy,” Emmanuel Macron noted.
“We have no divisions, there have been no agreements on Britain’s exit from the EU, or on future relations, we unanimously support negotiator Michel Barnier. We are ready for an agreement, but not at any price ”, explained the French president.
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The United Kingdom withdrew from the European Union on February 1. In the post-Brexit transition period, which runs until December 31, 2020, the UK will continue to apply European Union regulations. Prime Minister Boris Johnson hopes to complete negotiations on future bilateral relations by December 31, 2020. He has been repeatedly told by EU leaders that time is short. Brussels has warned the London government that it will have to comply with social, labor and environmental standards to reach a free trade agreement with the European Union. Downing Street says it wants conditions similar to those granted by the European Union to Canada, South Korea and Japan, but EU officials have pointed out that the situation is different in terms of standards, in the context of the geographic proximity between the Union. European and UK. Recently, German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that the European Union must prepare for the scenario of ending the post-Brexit transition without any deal.
Tensions have risen as the Boris Johnson government wants to change some terms of the Brexit deal, a plan that is considered a violation of international law. The treaty grants a special status to the British province of Northern Ireland, in order to avoid border controls and maintain the Good Friday Peace Agreement. But the Boris Johnson government is challenging the maintenance of EU regulations in the British province of Northern Ireland.
