[ad_1]
EU diplomats have warned there are significant gaps to bridge in Brexit talks as European capitals step up pressure on chief negotiator Michel Barnier to secure assurances that Britain will keep its word.
With less than a month until the end of Britain’s post-Brexit transition period, the two sides are competing to close the remaining gaps in the ‘level playing field’ for business, meeting what is agreed and fishing rights in UK waters.
Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney told Irish Newstalk radio on Thursday that if the EU stood firm and trusted Barnier, “there is a good chance that we can reach an agreement in the next few days.”
But EU diplomats from concerned member states warned that the European side was close to reaching the limits of its negotiating mandate.
“I do not have the impression that we are hours away from an agreement,” said a diplomat.
Stefaan De Rynck, a senior member of Barnier’s team, said Thursday that “significant divergences remain” and that the outcome of the talks is uncertain. “My feeling is that both parties are committed to finding an agreement,” he said at an event at the Center for European Policy.
Wednesday’s round of talks between the EU and UK teams ended at 1am on Thursday. British officials said negotiators at the underground conference center in Britain’s business department, supported by take-out pizzas, were grappling with “the same problems” that have dogged the talks so far.
Some British officials had hoped a deal could be struck as soon as Thursday, but those hopes were dashed after late-night talks failed to generate a breakthrough.
EU negotiators are still looking for ways to satisfy Paris and other capitals worried that their businesses will be adequately protected from unfair British competition after facing stiff resistance from the UK to their previous demands.
Barnier informed the ambassadors on Wednesday that the bloc was seeking “definitions, principles and binding, viable and operational application” on state aid, according to one of the participants in the closed-door meeting.
The issue of the governance of a future deal has become even more sensitive due to repeated threats from the UK government to violate its divorce treaty with the EU.
In September, the UK government unveiled plans to use its “internal market bill” to override the protocol on Northern Ireland agreed to last year. He is on track to publish a finance bill that will further challenge the treaty.
UK negotiators believe French President Emmanuel Macron is the key to unlocking a deal, given the level of interest their country has in the remaining hot spots.
In recent days, Barnier has faced demands not to give too much away to the UK from a group of countries like France, the Netherlands, Denmark and Belgium, whose economies are closely intertwined with Britain and whose fishermen depend on its waters.
EU diplomats told the Financial Times that Brussels had so far failed to overcome UK opposition to French-backed proposals aimed at ensuring a “level playing field” for business.
These included plans to demand that Britain create a regulator with powers to monitor state aid to companies even before the money is released, and demands for “ratchet clauses” that would force both sides to have environmental and labor regulations that will evolve in a similar way. overtime.
France warned Barnier at a meeting of EU diplomats on Wednesday that any future relationship agreement must include “adequate and proportionate solutions” and, crucially, also the right of European companies to bring the UK government to the fore. British courts if he violated their rules of the game. field commitments.
