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Brussels expects Brexit negotiations to resume in a few days, as Michael Gove confirmed that despite harsh rhetoric from Downing Street, the door remained “ajar” to re-engage.
EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier will hold a video conference with his British counterpart David Frost on Monday afternoon to discuss the structure of future talks.
While Downing Street is likely to appear tough in rejecting an immediate resumption of trade and security negotiations, sources on both sides expect the current suspension to be brief.
The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and BusinessEurope, the body representing European industry, have urged the British government and the European Commission to show leadership and quickly return to the negotiating table.
“Now is the time for historic political leadership,” reads a joint statement by the CBI and organizations representing 190,000 businesses and 7 million employees in the UK. “With commitment and tenacity, an agreement can be reached.”
BusinessEurope CEO Markus Beyrer said: “An agreement is still possible and it is the only way to avoid uncertainty and major disruptions.”
There are another four weeks left in which there could be valuable negotiations before a deal should be ready for ratification in Westminster and the European Parliament.
Gove confirmed on Sunday that he wanted a trade deal and that the government had not closed the door to negotiations.
“It is ajar,” he said during an interview on BBC One’s Andrew Marr Show. “We hope the EU will change their position, we are certainly not saying that if they change their position we cannot talk to them.”
A senior EU diplomat said they did not expect the standoff to last long given the British government’s obvious desire to avoid a double blow to the economy due to a no-deal outcome and the second wave of coronavirus.
“If they want an agreement, they will have to keep talking and not leave the negotiating table for too long,” said an EU source. “In any case, the EU position is very clear: let’s keep talking. There is a deal somewhere. [It is] in the UK to make a decision. “
“We will only need David [Frost] and Michel [Barnier] kiss and make up, ”said a second diplomat.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson had said on Friday that further negotiations with the EU would be futile without a “fundamental change” in Brussels’ position.
When it announced the “effective” end of the trade talks, Downing Street had signaled the failure of EU leaders in their summit communiqué to commit to the “intensified” negotiations, a promise that existed in an earlier draft.
It is understood that the word was removed before the leaders signed it on the grounds that the compromise was strange given that a similar promise had been made in previous summit statements. There were also concerns that it could be seen as pressure on Barnier.
EU sources said the reason given by the government for its reaction was false. “They had a complete vision of what was going to be in the conclusions, they just wanted a moment of crisis and they would have used any excuse to design one,” said one. “But the prime minister had set the summit as the deadline for a deal, and apparently he needed to do something.”
The bar now set by Downing Street for the renewal of the talks reportedly includes daily negotiations, accepting that there must be movement on both sides and working on the legal texts in the various parts of the trade deal.
Barnier has already said he wants to speed up the talks. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, speaking on Friday, had said there was “room for maneuver” in the negotiations. French President Emmanuel Macron has offered to commit to the fishery, although there has so far been stubborn resistance from Paris to any change in the distribution of catches in British waters.
There remains some resistance in Brussels to working on a legal text until the landing zones on the most contentious issues are in sight.
But EU sources said that didn’t seem like a major obstacle to further talks, given the new willingness to compromise on fisheries and the so-called level playing field provisions sought by Brussels to ensure that neither side can undermine through the deregulation or unfairly skewing the subsidies market.
