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Post-Brexit trade talks could go all the way after Prime Minister Boris Johnson and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen agreed to “go the extra mile” and continue discussions beyond date. Sunday initial limit.
The two leaders issued a short joint statement after what they called a “useful” phone call on Sunday and refused to set a new deadline for the closing of the talks.
Johnson and von der Leyen said they “discussed the main unresolved issues” and that “despite the exhaustion” of many months of talks and multiple missed deadlines, it was “responsible” to continue trying to break the deadlock.
Changes from January 1, 2021 will have big implications for companies
Mr johnson He later said “we are still very far apart on some key issues … but we are going to keep talking to see what we can do.”
He went on to caution that a no-deal outcome was still the most likely scenario.
He said the UK should prepare for the breakdown of the talks, which will result in tariffs under the terms of the World Trade Organization (WTO) starting on January 1, a move that is expected to cost jobs, make workers Food prices rise and wipe £ 45bn from the economy.
“Most likely now, of course, we have to prepare for the WTO terms, the Australian terms,” Johnson said.
But the agreement to keep talking does indicate that progress could be possible.
The couple agreed “to continue as long as they still think that an agreement is possible,” a source said.
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Negotiators ‘will continue talks’ on Brexit
Speaking to Sky News, Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin remained optimistic.
“I do not underestimate the difficulties and challenges faced by both groups of negotiators,” he said. “But in my opinion, if there is a will, there is a way, and I think it is very important that they do everything possible to get an agreement.”
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‘Where there is a will, there is a way’ – Irish PM
Simon Coveney, Ireland’s Foreign Minister, said Johnson and Mrs. Von der Leyen The joint statement was “a good sign.”
He added that it was “time to keep your nerves and allow the negotiators to move slowly,” warning that an agreement is “clearly very difficult, but possible.”
Now there are less than three weeks until the end of the transition period
Johnson had summoned cabinet ministers to update them, as both the UK and the EU had said Sunday could be the defining moment for talks.
A Labor spokesman responded by saying that the government “promised the British people that they had an oven-ready deal and that they would end Brexit” and now “must deliver on that promise, get the deal and allow us to move forward as one country.”
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday that Johnson and von der Leyen necessary to break the “quagmire” at the “political level”.
And Spain’s Foreign Minister, Arancha González Laya, warned that not reaching an agreement would be “extremely negative” for all parties, but “more on the UK side.”
Now there are less than three weeks until the end of the transition period, the provisions that came into force after Brexi It happened on January 31, which has caused the UK to continue to follow most of the EU rules.
Businesses have been told to prepare for the big changes that will take effect from January 1, but they have no idea under what conditions exactly they will export and import goods.
Tony Danker, head of the Confederation of British Industry, said the news that the talks will continue “gives hope” but that “the ongoing delays are frustrating and cost companies.”
“The government must act with even more determination to avoid the abyss that looms on January 1,” he added.
London Analysis: How Important is the Leaders’ Latest Statement?
By Sam Coates, Deputy Political Editor
The mere fact that there is a joint return is extremely important.
It suggests that they were able to articulate a form of words, they were able to make a deal on what they should say immediately after that phone call.
Which is not something that can be said after dinner on Wednesday, for example, when the UK gave a one-sided reading of what happened, or even when the UK issued a statement last night.
This would seem to point to optimism, and it is significant that they do not seem to go into detail.
I think the evolution of us going back to joint statements, that the tone is much more positive and that the cabinet has been briefed now are signs of positivity.
We are not out of the woods, clearly there is a long way to go.
But we are a world away from where we were, even at 9 o’clock the night before.
Analysis from Brussels: another deadline was avoided without an agreement
By Michelle Clifford, Europe Correspondent
Ursula von der Leyen was the first to speak after that phone call, but she didn’t reveal anything in terms of what had changed.
What made the chairman of the Commission say that the absence of an agreement seemed more likely that “it is worth going further”?
Some optimism had seeped in overnight after another long day of talks as negotiators delved into how to solve the problem of protecting the single market while giving the UK the right to set its own rules.
You could call it the justice versus sovereignty dilemma.
Something must have changed on a political level to provide the impetus to keep talking, but neither side was openly talking about what.
When Boris Johnson spoke, he once again offered to visit European capitals to try to reach an agreement. Talk to Macron? A chat with Merkel? The EU has already said no to that.
But the conversation will continue in Brussels.
There is no certainty that an agreement will be reached at the end of everything. But another deadline has passed, with no deal being avoided.
