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A Brexit deal must be sealed by Sunday or there will be no deal, Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen agreed after a “lively and frank” three-hour summit that set the stage for a dramatic final act of the negotiations.
Despite nine months of conflicting talks, “very large gaps” were said to exist between the UK and the EU. Leaders said they should reach an agreement or no results by the weekend, with pressure from both sides to find time for parliamentary ratification.
Downing Street said the meeting in Brussels had been “frank”, a diplomatic expression for a heated conversation. Commission Chairman Von der Leyen tweeted: “We had a lively and interesting discussion on the status of outstanding issues.
“We understand the positions of others. They remain very separate. Teams should meet again immediately to try to resolve these issues. We will reach a decision at the end of the weekend. “
An EU source close to the negotiation said that while the difficulties were real, both sides believed an agreement was possible.
Flanked by his top negotiator and top advisers, Johnson had told the president of the European Commission and the bloc’s top negotiator, Michel Barnier, that he could not accept the terms of a treaty that would bind Britain to EU rules. .
While explaining its position on a three-course meal of scallops, turbot and pavlova at the commission’s Berlaymont headquarters, EU sources said the bloc planned to publish its no-deal contingency plans “very soon” to keep the planes. flying and protecting borders in case talks irretrievably collapse.
A top 10 source said: “The Prime Minister and Von der Leyen had a frank discussion about the significant obstacles that remain in the negotiations.
“There are still very large gaps between the two sides and it is not yet clear if they can be bridged. The prime minister and Von der Leyen agreed to continue discussions over the next few days among their negotiating teams.
“The prime minister does not want to leave any path to a possible deal untested. The prime minister and Von der Leyen agreed that a firm decision should be made on the future of the talks by Sunday. “
Hours earlier, EU leaders had told their parliaments that the negotiations were on the brink of failure. “Right now we are on the verge of a no-deal [Brexit]”Said the Irish taoiseach, Micheál Martin, to the Irish parliament.
Johnson arrived at the commission’s headquarters shortly after 8 p.m. local time, where he posed for photographs with Von der Leyen before retiring to a meeting room with his chief negotiators for a half-hour discussion. The two teams, along with other officials, sat down to eat fish for dinner.
When Von der Leyen and Johnson met, the chairman of the commission warned him about the need to keep Covid safe and told him: [your] distance.”
He added that the prime minister should remove his mask. “Then we have to put it back on,” he said. “You have to put it back on immediately.” “You drive very well here, Úrsula, and also very well,” replied Johnson.
Dinner ended just over three hours. The 27 EU heads of state and government will meet on Thursday, when Von der Leyen is likely to update them on the talks.
Sources said the leaders would not participate in a debate and did not intend to make any decisions on Brexit during the two-day summit.
EU capitals are now facing nervous wait for responses from Brussels. In the Bundestag, German Chancellor Angela Merkel had said earlier in the day that her government was willing to allow the negotiation to collapse if Downing Street continued to reject the EU approach.
“If there are conditions coming from the British side that we cannot accept, then we will go our own way without an exit agreement,” he said. “Because one thing is for sure: the integrity of the single market must be maintained.”
Both parties consider that the main obstacle is the EU’s demand for an “evolution” or “ratchet” clause to ensure that, as one party improves its standards, the other cannot enjoy a competitive advantage.
Before flying to Brussels from RAF Northolt, Johnson told the Commons that the EU had come up with terms that no British prime minister could accept. “Our friends in the EU are currently insisting that if they pass a new law in the future that we in this country do not comply with or do not do the same, then they want the automatic right to punish and retaliate,” he said. .
And secondly, they are saying that the UK should be the only country in the world that does not have sovereign control over its fishing waters. I don’t think those are terms that any prime minister of this country should accept. “
The description of the EU’s bargaining demands was rejected in Brussels, raising hopes that Johnson was making a “straw man” argument to rule out in favor of a compromise that he can sell to his Brexiter supporters. “I don’t recognize it, it doesn’t ring a bell,” said a senior EU diplomat. “I don’t know what you mean, let’s put it like that.”
Merkel told German MPs that the EU, with the “evolution” clause, was simply seeking to manage the inevitable divergence in environmental, social and labor standards, which are currently shared.
She said: “We currently have more or less the same legal system, a harmonized legal system, but over the years the legal systems will diverge with respect to environmental, labor, health legislation, everywhere.
“For this we need to find agreements on how each party can react when the other changes its legal situation. Otherwise, there will be conditions of unfair competition, which we cannot do with our companies. This is the big and difficult issue that is still on the table, along with questions about fishing quotas and the like. “
UK Chief Negotiator David Frost agreed not to regress from a common baseline of standards at the end of the transition period.
But EU negotiators want a forum for debate when the current minimum standards become outdated due to events on one side. Then there would be arbitration and the possibility that one party would counterattack with tariffs or other corrective measures if the other was slow to agree on a new “level playing field” of minimum standards. Downing Street fears this means an alignment of standards through the back door.
