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British and EU negotiators have re-engaged in Brussels for the final hours of the Brexit talks ahead of the latest deadline, as Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab pinned hopes for a breakthrough on a call telephone between the Prime Minister and the President of the European Commission.
Talks between the teams led by UK chief negotiator David Frost and his EU counterpart Michel Barnier lasted until midnight Saturday and resumed at 9am CET on Sunday with some signs of movement.
Johnson and Von der Leyen will speak at lunchtime, but there will likely be more conversations at the end of the day.
“As long as we are talking, we are making progress,” said a source in Brussels.
But speaking Sunday morning, following a call with the British team, Raab said that despite all the creativity in the talks in the Belgian capital, the negotiation would live or die depending on the outcome of Sunday’s conversation between Boris Johnson and Ursula von. der Leyen.
“I called to speak to our team in Brussels, they have worked incredibly hard. Remember, the prime minister made it clear that we don’t want to leave a stone unturned, ”Raab told Sky’s Sophie Ridge on Sunday.
“So we’ve been working very hard on a technical whole with all the usual position shoving, but what really matters is what the EU is willing to compromise on a political level as well.
“There is a conversation that Ursula von der Leyen, chair of the commission, will have later with the prime minister, that’s when we will find out.”
Von der Leyen had agreed over a three-hour dinner Wednesday night that a “firm decision” would have to be made before the weekend on whether there was any hope for a deal.
Both parties have said they would be willing to talk a few more days if a definitive breakthrough could be made, although in the last 48 hours Johnson has spoken of the possibilities of a no-deal exit from the transition period, calling it highly probable. “
Chronology
From Brefusal to Brexit: A History of Britain in the EU
Brefusal
French President Charles de Gaulle vetoes Britain’s entry into the EEC, accusing the UK of “deep-seated hostility” towards the European project.
Brentry
With Sir Edward Heath signing the accession treaty the previous year, the UK joins the EEC in an official ceremony complete with a torchlight rally, bowing officials and a procession of political leaders, including former Prime Ministers Harold Macmillan and Alec Douglas. -House.
Referendum
The UK decides to stay in the common market after 67% voted “yes”. Margaret Thatcher, who would later become the leader of the Conservative Party, campaigned to stay.
‘Give us back our money’
Margaret Thatcher negotiated what became known as the UK’s refund with other EU members after the “iron lady” marched to the former French royal palace at Fontainebleau to demand “our own money back” claiming that for every £ 2 contributed we received only £ 1 “despite being one of the” poorest three “members of the community.
It was a move that sowed the seeds of conservative euroscepticism that would later spark the Brexit schism in the party.
The Witches speech
Thatcher notified the EU community at a decisive moment in EU policy where she questioned the expansionist plans of Jacques Delors, who had pointed out that 80% of all decisions on economic and social policy would be made by the European Community. within 10 years. a European government in “embryo”. That was a bridge too far for Thatcher.
The cold war ends
Collapse of the Berlin Wall and fall of communism in Eastern Europe, which would later lead to the expansion of the EU.
‘No no no’
The divisions between the UK and the EU deepened when Thatcher told the Commons in an infamous speech that it was’ no, no, no ‘to what she saw as Delors’ continued takeover. Rupert Murdoch’s Sun newspaper reinforces its opposition to Europe with a two-fingered cover, “Up Yours Delors.”
Black wednesday
A collapse of the pound forced Prime Minister John Major and then-Chancellor Norman Lamont to remove the UK from the exchange rate mechanism.
The single market
On January 1, controls and customs duties were eliminated throughout the bloc. Thatcher praised the vision of “a single market without barriers, visible or invisible, giving you direct and unhindered access to the purchasing power of more than 300 million of the world’s richest and most prosperous people.”
Maastricht Treaty
Conservative rebels vote against the treaty that paved the way for the creation of the European Union. John Major won the vote the next day in a Pyrrhic victory.
Repairing the relationship
Tony Blair fixes the relationship. Adheres to the social charter and labor rights.
UK
Nigel Farage chose a MEP and immediately goes on the offensive in Brussels. “Our interests are best served if we are not members of this club,” he said in his inaugural address. “The playing field is almost as level as the decks of the Titanic after hitting an iceberg.”
The euro
Chancellor Gordon Brown decides that the UK will not join the euro.
The EU is expanding to include eight countries of the former Eastern Bloc, including Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic.
The EU is expanding again, allowing Romania and Bulgaria to join the club.
Migratory crisis
The anti-immigration hysteria seems to take hold with references to Katie Hopkins’ “cockroaches” in the Sun and tabloid headlines like “How many more can we take?” and “Calais Crisis: Send in the Dogs.”
David Cameron returns from Brussels with an EU reform package, but it is not enough to appease the eurosceptic wing of his own party.
Brexit referendum
The UK votes to leave the European Union, triggering the resignation of David Cameron and paving the way for Theresa May to become Prime Minister.
Britain leaves the EU
After years of parliamentary stalemate during Theresa May’s attempt to reach an agreement, the UK leaves the EU.
Raab said the crucial call moment had not yet been set, but offered some hope for a successful resolution, insisting there was a way out of a no-deal exit from the transition period on December 31, when the UK will leave the EU. single market and customs, with or without new trade and security agreements.
He said: “We want to be treated like any other independent democracy that respects itself. If you can accept that on a political level, then there are many reasons to be confident, but I still think there is a long way to go …
“Technical tools matter, getting creative solutions, understanding jobs really matters, but what is ultimately required, this eleventh hour of negotiation is moving the political deadlock, which can only happen at the level of the prime minister and commissioner. Von der Leyen. “
The biggest obstacle to an agreement is the EU’s demand for an “evolution” or “ratchet” clause in the treaty that would create a mechanism to ensure that a minimum baseline of environmental, social and labor standards evolves over time, to ensure there is no significant trade distortion guaranteed by undervaluation.
Downing Street has claimed that the EU proposals would force the UK to follow regulatory changes in Brussels or face automatic tariffs.
On Friday, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said that this was not the last proposal, but that for tariff-free access to the European market, the EU needed some assurance that if a party deviated significantly from the standards for some products , there would be a structured conversation on how to tackle trade distortions.
Rabb said: “Mark Rutte is in the voice, he is usually quite pragmatic, we are usually quite close to the Dutch on these matters …
“There are many other voices. The conclusion is this: are we obliged to follow the EU rules in the past, present, future and do we have a situation where, when we are exercising normal control over our own law, as any democracy does, suddenly we find there is a tariff torpedo?
