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Boris Johnson has set his red lines for a Brexit deal at a decisive dinner in Brussels, after EU leaders told their parliaments that the negotiations were “off a cliff”.
Flanked by his top negotiator and top advisers, the prime minister told the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the bloc’s top negotiator, Michel Barnier, that he could not accept the terms of a treaty that would bind Great Britain with the EU rules.
While explaining its position over a three-course meal at the commission’s Berlaymont headquarters, EU sources said the bloc planned to publish its no-deal contingency plans “very soon” to keep planes flying and protect borders in case of conversations collapsing hopelessly.
“Right now we are on the verge of a no deal,” Ireland’s taoiseach Micheál Martin told the Irish parliament earlier that day. “It remains to be seen how the directors [Johnson and Von der Leyen] they can rescue the situation in their conversations tonight. “
The prime minister 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 top negotiators for a half-hour discussion. The two teams, along with other officials, were to sit down to dinner.
When Von der Leyen and Johnson met, the commission chairman suggested: “Keep [your] distance. “” You drive very well here, Úrsula, and also very well, “replied Johnson.
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. UK sources said a successful dinner could see negotiations between Frost and Barnier resumed on Thursday.
The outcome of the dinner was nervously awaited in EU capitals amid growing fears of an economic and security disaster when the Brexit transition period ends in just three weeks.
In the Bundestag, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said 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 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.
A senior EU diplomat said: “Ursula von der Leyen knows exactly how far she can go. She knows what the red lines are, she knows that we are within millimeters of them.
“What we hope is that Boris Johnson will come up with a real and energetic move that allows the talks to continue. To be honest, the most we’re expecting tonight is for Ursula von der Leyen to say whether Barnier can go back to work or not. Our line has not changed since the referendum and it will not change: if you want to access the single market, there are obligations that you must fulfill ”.
