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Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will hold emergency talks as negotiations on a post-Brexit trade deal go all the way.
With time for a deal to run out quickly, the chief negotiators of the two sides announced on Friday that they would put the talks on “pause” to allow political leaders to take stock.
In a joint statement following the latest round of negotiations in London, Lord Frost of the UK and Michel Barnier of the EU said the conditions for a deal had not yet been met.
Lord Frost and Barnier said that Mrs Von der Leyen and Mr johnson He would “discuss the situation” on Saturday afternoon.
Britain’s top Brexit negotiator David Frost issued a joint statement with his EU counterpart.
It comes after a week of intense negotiations in London, with night sessions fueled by sandwich and pizza deliveries.
Lord Frost and Barnier blamed the breakdown of the talks on “major divergences on a level playing field, governance and fisheries.”
A level playing field is concerned with state subsidies and standards: The EU fears Britain will become a low-regulation economic rival, cutting standards and heavily subsidizing its industries.
Britain, meanwhile, wants to “regain control” of Brussels and set its own economic policies.
The fishing industry is another obstacle: a small part of the European economy in general, but very important for nations like France.
The EU wants to continue fishing in British waters, but Britain wants to control access and quotas.
Sky’s deputy political director, Sam Coates, said the lull in the talks was “certainly a very significant moment,” but “not unexpected.”
“Things didn’t go terribly well on Thursday in the negotiating room and (on Friday) they didn’t noticeably get worse, but on the issues we’ve talked about over the last 12 months, the gap is not closing,” he said.
Coates said it was possible that the call between Johnson and von der Leyen could produce “a small breakthrough”, but “while it is possible that both parties agree that no further talks are needed, they told me that it is the least likely outcome. “.
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Britain formally left the 27-nation bloc in late January and has spent most of the year in a transitional period, with no changes to the rules on trade, travel and business.
But politicians in Britain and the EU must approve a trade deal before the end of the year for it to take effect on January 1.
Without it, both parties would have to deal with tariffs and trade barriers that would bring great disruption.
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European Council President Charles Michel said: “We will see what will happen in the next few days.
“But the end of December is the end of December and we know that after December 31 we have January 1, and we know we need to be clear as soon as possible.”
