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Good Morning. After numerous false starts (and apologies for any reporting on this that may have been misleading), we have finally finally reached what will be the decisive week for the UK-EU trade talks, or even the decisive 24 / 48 hours. Or at least that’s the Whitehall consensus. A deal agreed on the next day could be approved by the EU summit starting Thursday and then hastily approved in parliament next week. Other schedules would be conceivable, but much more troublesome.
Here’s our overnight story on the conversations.
This morning Michel barnier, the EU’s main Brexit negotiator, has updated the EU ambassadors in Brussels on the developments. Here is the latest update presented by Reuters in the last minutes.
British and European Union negotiators have yet to bridge the gaps on the top three issues standing in the way of a post-Brexit trade deal and the talks could still go either way, an EU diplomat said Monday. .
Despite intense negotiations until last night, the gaps in level playing field, governance and fisheries have yet to be bridged. The result is still uncertain, it can still go both ways, “said the diplomat.
He spoke after a briefing for the ambassadors of the EU member states in Brussels by the bloc’s main Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier.
“Negotiations between the EU and the UK have come to an end, time is running out quickly,” said the diplomat. “The EU is ready to go the extra mile to agree a fair, sustainable and balanced deal for the citizens of the EU and the UK. The UK has to choose between such a positive outcome or a no-deal outcome ”.
And these are from RTE’s Europe editor, Tony Connelly.
Tony connelly
(@tconnellyRTE)BREAKING: Ireland’s Foreign Minister Simon Coveney says EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier has made a “very gloomy and pessimistic” assessment of the prospects for a deal to EU ambassadors.
Tony connelly
(@tconnellyRTE)“He’s very cautious with the ability to progress today.”
Tony connelly
(@tconnellyRTE)Coveney said @rtenews “There was really no progress yesterday so we have to try to make a breakthrough sometime today.”
Here is the agenda for the day.
12:00 h: Downing Street is expected to hold a briefing in the lobby.
12:15 pm: Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s Prime Minister, is expected to hold a briefing on the coronavirus.
12:15 pm: Vaughan Gething, Wales’ health minister, conducts a coronavirus briefing.
After 3:30 p.m.: MEPs resumed debate on the internal market bill. The government is reinserting the clauses passed in the House of Lords allowing the UK to override parts of the Brexit withdrawal agreement.
Early in the evening: Boris Johnson is scheduled to hold talks with Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, on the trade talks between the UK and the EU.
In addition, Michael Gove, Minister of the Cabinet Office, and Maroš Šefčovič, Vice President of the European Commission, are holding a meeting of the joint committee, the body created to oversee the implementation of the withdrawal agreement.
Politics Live is now doubling down as the UK’s coronavirus live blog and given the way the Covid crisis overshadows everything, this will continue for the foreseeable future. But we’ll also cover non-Covid political stories, like Brexit, and when they seem more important or more interesting, they will take precedence.
Here’s our global coronavirus live blog.
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