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Brussels has warned EU governments not to break ranks or consider the idea of side deals with Britain should trade talks fail, urging a firm line to force the UK back to the negotiating table “lo as soon as possible “after January 1.
According to a diplomatic note seen by the Financial Times, Brussels has warned EU member states not to do anything to ease the consequences of a no-deal end to the Brexit transition period on January 1.
An EU official familiar with the discussion said Brussels had “no illusions” that a no-deal Brexit would be highly unpredictable. “Everybody understands that there is no guarantee that the British will come back to the table.”
A second senior EU diplomat said hopes of a deal were fading. “Of course, a deal would be preferable, but it seems the question is not whether we can prevent the Brexit ship from hitting the rocks, but how it can be raised.”
With negotiators making one last attempt at a breakthrough, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned on Friday that it was “very, very likely” that Britain would leave the single market without a trade deal.
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, told EU leaders at a summit in Brussels that the talks were “more likely” to fail than to be successful.
Brussels and London will decide on the fate of the talks on Sunday. Despite this, senior EU figures, including the foreign ministers of Ireland and Germany, said on Friday that they continued to believe a deal was possible.
But, as time is running out, the EU’s working group on trade negotiations, which is made up of national diplomats, met on Thursday to discuss the no-deal measures that Brussels had released earlier that day.
According to the meeting’s diplomatic note, national governments were encouraged to be careful not to extend the EU’s “no-deal” unilateral contingency measures released by the Commission this week. The measures mainly cover temporary agreements for air and road transport.
A Brussels official told the assembled diplomats that “an incentive must be maintained” for the UK to return to the negotiating table “as soon as possible” if the negotiations do not lead to success this year.
National governments were told that it was important not to do anything that would replicate the benefits of membership in the EU, beyond what was contained in specific, time-limited measures designed to keep planes flying and trucks in flight. movement.
The decision not to include the so-called “fifth freedom”, which allows air cargo movements within the EU, and to deny the “cabotage” rights that would allow British trucks to make drops in Europe, was explicitly designed to maintain the pressure, diplomats. They were told.
With a no-deal result looming, the pound fell in choppy trading on Friday. The British pound fell as much as 1.2 percent in afternoon trading, before cutting its losses to around 0.4 percent to trade at $ 1.3241. It has lost 1.5 percent over the past week in its biggest drop since September.
Negotiations between Brussels and London are mainly tangled around the EU’s demands for a “level playing field” that ensures that their companies are protected from unfair competition. Johnson has said the lawsuits are an affront to sovereignty.
But leaders, including Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and his Irish counterpart, Micheál Martin, emphasized that both sides should strive to reach an agreement, warning of the economic blow of a no-deal outcome.
“The implications are very serious for everyone involved in the event that no agreement is reached and I think all politicians in the UK and across Europe need to reflect on that,” Martin told reporters at the Brussels summit.
Rutte said: “It would be inexplicable to the world if the UK and Europe could not reach an agreement.”
Additional information from Jim Pickard in London
