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BRUSSELS / LONDON: British and EU leaders will meet face-to-face to try to seal a post-Brexit trade deal after failing again to narrow their differences on Monday (December 7), increasing the possibility of a separation messy roads at the end of the month.
Just over three weeks before Britain completes its journey outside the bloc, a senior British government source said there was “every chance that we won’t get there” and EU officials said that if anything , the negotiations had backtracked.
Since Britain left the European Union in January, the two sides have been stuck on three issues, raising the possibility that many companies say is their nightmare scenario: no deal to govern around $ 1 trillion in trade. annual.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson will travel to Brussels to meet with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, whose timing has yet to be confirmed, in what some say will be one last roll of the dice to secure a trade deal.
But he is not expected to schedule his trip to coincide with an EU summit on Thursday and Friday.
Ireland’s Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said negotiators face a deadline on Wednesday, ahead of the summit, to avoid a “no-deal” scenario when the UK leaves the EU orbit on the 31st. December, which would affect the economies of both parties and exacerbate the pain of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
The leaders of the 27 EU member states agreed to step up contingency planning for the effects of a “no deal” on their economies when they meet for the summit.
“The conditions for a deal are not there because of the remaining differences on critical issues,” von der Leyen and Johnson said in a joint statement after their call, which followed an equally fruitless conversation on Saturday.
“We ask our chief negotiators to prepare a summary of the remaining differences to be discussed in person in the coming days,” they said. The EU Commission spokesman said Johnson would travel to Brussels for the meeting.
A senior UK government source described the talks as “in the same situation now as on Friday. We have not made any tangible progress.”
“It is clear that this must continue politically. While we do not consider this process to be closed, things look very complicated and there is a good chance that we will not get there,” said the source.
POUND TUMBLES
The British pound fell, showing how investors are losing confidence that a deal will be reached.
Britain, which joined the EU in 1973, formally left the bloc on January 31, but has been in a transition period since then under which the rules on trade, travel and business remain unchanged.
For weeks, the two sides have been bargaining for fishing rights in British waters, ensuring fair competition for companies and ways to resolve future disputes. The two have asked each other to commit to reaching an agreement on the line.
Failure to reach a deal would clog borders, disrupt financial markets, and disrupt delicate supply chains in Europe and beyond, as the world tries to cope with the enormous economic cost of the COVID-19 pandemic.
With just a few days to reach an agreement and gain approval, most sources in the EU and the UK agreed that it was time for political leaders to step in and make the decision on whether to change their positions enough to allow a breakthrough.
On an olive branch to the EU, Britain said it could remove clauses in the legislation that would violate its Brexit deal, signed just a few months ago with the EU, and would review the provisions of another bill if talks on the Withdrawal Agreement.
Britain admits that the clauses violate international law, but says they are an essential safety net that would ensure the UK’s integrity.
