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Saturday could be the biggest Brexit day since the UK’s formal exit from the EU in late January.
Significant gaps remain between the two parties in the negotiation on a post-Brexit trade deal.
Conversations between the EU chief negotiator Michel barnier and its UK counterpart David frost to have reached the end of the road.
EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier and Britain’s David Frost (below) said there were still ‘significant divergences’
Now there is a “pause” and the whole process is passing to the two directors, the Prime Minister Boris johnson and the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, to discuss in a phone call on Saturday afternoon.
This could unlock the negotiation. It could also kill her.
It is impossible to say what the result will be.
For days the EU and UK parties have been saying that talks would always end in calls between Johnson and von der Leyen, so in a sense the announcement shouldn’t come as a surprise.
The EU is also more than aware of the need for Britain to have a choreographed victory against them in the event of a deal.
Interestingly, 36 hours ago, before the current deadlock, both sides had said that there were visible paths through some of the most intractable problems.
That does not mean that Friday’s dispute is not serious and that the tensions are real.
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Brexit border delays: why are they important?
The current turmoil appears to have come after the UK suggested that on Thursday the EU suddenly reverted to a long-standing demand to stay aligned with some EU rules after January 1, even if they change, a demand that would break a red line. key to the UK. .
Some insiders from the UK government suggested on Friday that they are extremely pessimistic.
Brexit would never end with a groan.
Johnson himself was always going to have to play a major role in the drama. In either direction, there would always be turbulence.
That final process has already begun, with just a few days to decide the outcome.
