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LONDON: London and Brussels agreed on Sunday (December 13) to “go the extra mile” in the coming days to try and strike a difficult-to-reach trade deal despite missing their latest deadline to avoid a turbulent exit from Gran Britain from the orbit of the European Union in the end. Of the month.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and EU Executive Commission Chair Ursula von der Leyen had given negotiators a deadline Sunday to find a way to resolve a deadlock in deals that would guarantee Britain. access without tariffs or quotas to the only one in the EU. market.
On Sunday they ordered negotiators to continue, although Johnson gave a pessimistic note on the prospects for a breakthrough.
“Despite the exhaustion after nearly a year of negotiations, despite the fact that deadlines have been missed over and over again, we believe it is responsible at this time to go the extra mile,” Johnson and von der Leyen said in a joint statement.
Britain left the EU in January but remains an informal member until December 31, the end of a transitional period during which it has remained in the EU’s single market and customs union.
Johnson said the two sides will try to be as creative as possible, but Britain cannot compromise on key “red lines,” so the most likely option is not to strike a deal, with trade reverting to non-concessional terms. established by the World Trade Organization.
A final Brexit without a trade deal would damage Europe’s economies, send shockwaves to financial markets, ruin borders and wreak havoc on delicate supply chains in Europe and beyond.
“Every opportunity to reach an agreement is very welcome,” said German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin.
The two sides have struggled to agree on fishing rights in British waters and the EU is demanding that Britain face consequences if in future it deviates from the bloc’s rules for fair competition, which it calls a level playing field.
Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said that despite recent comments from the British side, he understood that there was broad agreement on maintaining existing standards.
“I think both parties want a deal and they want a deal now,” Coveney told national broadcaster RTE. “My opinion is that an agreement can be reached, but it really must be done in the next few days.”
The EU’s main Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, will brief the bloc’s ambassadors on Monday morning on the status of the negotiations. The envoys will then review the situation, Sebastian Fischer, the EU spokesman for Germany, who holds the rotating presidency of the bloc, said on Twitter.
SHORT TIME SHORT
With a succession of missed deadlines, time is now critically short.
“The next few days will be important,” the 27 EU member states were supposed to say in response to the decision to continue the talks, according to diplomatic sources in Brussels, the center of the bloc.
READ: UK and EU say talks to continue on post-Brexit trade deal
EU diplomats told Reuters that if there was no time for parliamentary approval by the EU parliament, EU member states could back an agreement reached by negotiators to allow “provisional application”.
The British government has warned that even with a trade deal, 7,000 trucks heading to Channel ports in south-east England could be in queues of 100km if companies don’t prepare the necessary additional paperwork.
Britain is expected to accelerate the movement of some perishable goods when its transition period ends to help reduce the expected disruption at ports.
FISHING WATERS
The Defense Ministry said four Royal Navy patrol boats will be ready on January 1 to help protect Britain’s fishing waters in the event of no deal.
There are concerns about possible skirmishes between British and foreign fishing vessels in that scenario because the existing rules giving EU vessels access to British waters will expire.
The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, told France Inter radio that the bloc will remain calm.
“I will not say as Donald Trump would say that our ships are bigger than theirs, because I try to be serious. On the European side, we will maintain our composure,” he said.
