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Boris Johnson is prepared to walk away from trade talks with the EU next week if there is no visible path to a deal, it was stated today.
The UK government has made it clear that it wants the general outline of a deal to be in place by mid-October.
But sources told Bloomberg that the prime minister plans to abandon the talks next week if no deal is in sight.
Brussels insists that it will not be pressured into making a deal at the expense of its red negotiating lines.
But any threat from the UK to leave will increase pressure on the informal talks that are resuming in London today.
It came as Michael Gove told a parliamentary committee that the UK is stepping up preparations to secede from the bloc at the end of the transition period in December without a trade deal.
The Cabinet Office minister said the government’s goal remains to reach an agreement with the bloc, but insisted that the UK will not be “hostage.”
He said: “No one would be happier than me if we could reach an agreement, but we have an absolute obligation to ensure that the country is ready in case we do not.”
EU figures have criticized the ‘absent’ Johnson for not getting more involved in the talks after months of slow progress and stagnation in key areas such as fishing rights and state aid rules.
Johnson spoke with the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, on Saturday and they agreed to ‘step up’ the talks in the run-up to a high-level EU meeting on October 15-16.
Johnson has set an October 15 deadline to decide whether a deal is possible, saying “time is running out.”
However, EU sources said the talks could continue until November unless the prime minister takes a more practical approach, calling him “separate” from the process.
EU sources claimed that the talks could continue until November unless the prime minister (pictured today) took a more practical approach, calling him ‘separate’ from the process.
Johnson spoke with the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen (left) on Saturday, but the talks have been led by Lord Frost (right, today).
Are you even interested? What do you say to the 27 leaders when an issue as important as this is only addressed by (UK lead negotiator) David Frost? they told the Telegraph.
“It’s about time the people who are higher up in the hierarchy started getting involved if they want to achieve something.”
They also suggested that Johnson’s involvement was less than that of her predecessor Theresa May.
Yesterday, the prime minister’s official spokesman said Britain needs to know by October 15 if there is going to be an agreement with the European Union because companies must prepare.
‘We need to be in a position where we can provide certainty to companies on what the terms of our future trade relationship with the EU will be, and we believe that we must be able to provide clarity on whether or not there will be an agreement by October 15th. the spokesman said.
But a senior EU official dealing with the talks said a cliff-edge rift between the two without even a basic trade deal by the end of the year is becoming more likely by the day.
European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic told the European Parliament that “ there is little time ” to reach an agreement before the end of the transition period of the Brexit divorce on December 31, which gives negotiators less than four weeks to negotiate a deal that must then go through lengthy approval. process.
And he suggested that Johnson had made things even more difficult when he decided last month to introduce a bill that violates the legally binding Withdrawal Agreement the UK signed with the bloc to ensure he could leave on January 31 this year. .
Sefcovic said it made Britain less trustworthy and called the plans “a severe blow to the British firm and reliability”.
“Respecting the agreements is above all a matter of law, but also of trust and good faith,” he said.
European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic told the European Parliament that there is ‘little time’ to reach an agreement before the end of the transition period of the Brexit divorce on December 31.
He said the plans left the EU with no choice but to take legal action against Britain. If signed into law, the internal market bill would undermine previously agreed EU oversight of trade to and from Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK and shares a border with EU member Ireland.
The bloc is furious that Britain plans to violate parts of the divorce agreement that were established to keep an open Irish border, which has underpinned the peace since the 1998 Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland.
Sefcovic said the EU would never change anything contained in the Brexit divorce deal.
Amid fears that Brussels will try to run out the clock in negotiations to secure concessions, Johnson made clear in a phone call Saturday that Britain is ready to negotiate on ‘Australian’ terms with the EU, without any established framework.
The disputes and rhetoric have intensified in recent weeks as the watershed moment of trade discussions looms. The ‘stalled’ transition period will end on January 1, whether there is an agreement or not.
