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Europe was ready to say ‘Au revoir’ when Britain was finally on the verge of a deal today, after nine months of lengthy Brexit negotiations.
Just a week ago, an agreement appeared to be on the brink of collapse, with both British and EU diplomats reporting that the negotiations would end in failure.
But it seems that an intervention by German Chancellor Angela Merkel prevented No Deal.
“Britain and the EU share common values. If we can’t reach an agreement, we won’t send a good signal, ”he said last month.
Europe was ready to say ‘Au revoir’ when Britain was finally on the verge of a deal today, after nine months of lengthy Brexit negotiations. In the photo: Boris Johnson
It appears that an 11-hour speech by German Chancellor Angela Merkel helped prevent No Deal
Last-minute lobbying from Berlin, which has sought to ensure tariff-free and quota-free access to the world’s fifth-largest economy, prompted the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, to intervene to break out of the stalemate.
Although EU leaders were concerned about the potential chaos that No Deal would cause, they all insisted that Boris Johnson should only deal with the EU executive as the negotiations move towards the final phase.
Eurocrats have long feared that the UK would try to create divisions among the 27 member states as a way to win more concessions from top EU negotiator Michel Barnier.
The Prime Minister and Ms Von der Leyen held regular phone conversations to break out of the deadlock after a concise dinner held more than two weeks ago ended without a clear path to a trade deal.
Last-minute lobbying from Berlin, which has sought to ensure tariff-free and quota-free access to the world’s fifth-largest economy, prompted the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, to intervene to break out of the stalemate.
Eurocrats have long feared that the UK would try to create divisions among the 27 member states as a way to win more concessions from top EU negotiator Michel Barnier.
Ms Von der Leyen, the highest-ranking Eurocrat, ruthlessly flagged Barnier, who enjoyed wide support among EU governments, amid fears that he would not be able to reach a deal.
Officials on both negotiating teams had been depressed for weeks as French Prime Minister and President Emmanuel Macron rowed over access to post-Brexit fishing for European trawlers.
For weeks, Macron warned that he was willing to veto any deal that he considered defrauded by French fishermen.
Officials from both negotiating teams had been depressed for weeks as French Prime Minister and President Emmanuel Macron rowed over access to post-Brexit fishing for European trawlers.
France pressured the European Commission to publish plans for a no-deal scenario that would have given it the same access it now has to British waters.
“I don’t want to have my cake and eat it, but I want the pieces to be cut equally because I’m not giving my piece away,” he added.
At one point, he and his top ministers even began parroting Theresa May’s old Brexit slogan: “No deal is better than a bad deal.”
French Europe Minister Clement Beaune said yesterday that France could still block a deal, adding: ‘If the deal is bad, we will not accept it. That would mean that our fishermen would no longer have access to UK waters.
“That is why we have not stopped the negotiations yet, that is why we are giving them one last chance.”
Macron, facing the 2022 election, is eager to keep his powerful fishing industry at stake.
His possible rival in the next poll, Marine Le Pen of the far-right National Rally, garnered a large number of votes in 2017.
Tensions rose between London and Paris over the weekend when the French government decided to close its borders for 48 hours after the emergence of a new, more infectious strain of coronavirus.
Conservative MPs and Downing Street aides speculated that Macron’s decision was, in part, a means of punishing Britain for its decision to leave the European Union.
But sources close to the French president, a sworn Europhile, angrily denied those suggestions in conversations with the Mail this week.
They said Johnson’s own messages had caused panic among European governments who simply wanted to stop the spread of the virus.
EU sources said Germany was more concerned about Britain trying to undermine and overtake European companies after Brexit.
“We must have a level playing field, not only for today, but also for tomorrow and beyond,” Merkel said on December 9, saying that Brussels would not accept “unfair competition.”
That is why, during much of the talks, senior Commission officials insisted that the UK should agree that its laws should evolve at the pace of the Brussels bureaucracy, even for years after the transition phase.
Any agreement between Downing Street and the European Commission can still be blocked by EU governments if they do not agree with the text.
