[ad_1]
Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen approved another month of Brexit negotiations after agreeing that enough progress has been made to justify one last push to reach an agreement on trade and security.
EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier will travel to London this week to speak with his British counterpart, David Frost, and the two sides will hold follow-up talks in Brussels the following week.
The new rounds were agreed after a phone call on Saturday afternoon between the British prime minister and the president of the European Commission. EU sources said the conversation was “not game-changing” but not “futile” either, and both sides showed determination to find “landing zones” in the most difficult areas.
Before the new rounds of negotiations, Barnier will visit German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on Monday. Merkel had suggested on Friday that the EU would show new flexibility.
In a joint statement following their call, Johnson and Von der Leyen said they had identified reasons to hope that common ground could be found on the most contentious issues. They asked their teams to intensify negotiations in the coming weeks.
“They agreed on the importance of finding an agreement, if possible, as a solid basis for a strategic EU-UK relationship in the future,” the statement said. “They supported the assessment by both senior negotiators that progress had been made in recent weeks but that significant gaps remained, particularly, but not only in the areas of fisheries, level playing field and governance. They instructed their top negotiators to work hard to try to close those gaps. “
Downing Street’s hopes of moving to the so-called “tunnel” negotiation, an intensive negotiation away from the scrutiny of the media and national politicians, have not been satisfied. “She instructs me and [Michel Barnier] work hard to try to bridge the gaps between us. That work begins as soon as we can next week, ”Frost tweeted about the joint statement.
In a sign that the negotiations have moved toward the political realm, with decisions required by both sides in the upper ranks at their respective levels of flexibility, Von der Leyen and Johnson said they would now speak “regularly on this issue.”
Their last meeting was in June, when Johnson said it was time to put a “tiger in the tank” of negotiations, insisting that a deal could be reached by late summer.
It later moved its deadline to mid-October, when the 27 EU heads of state and government will hold a Brexit summit. Downing Street didn’t mention a deadline this time.
During the call, Johnson is understood to have emphasized that he would prefer the type of agreement the EU agreed to with Canada, and reiterated his willingness to leave the transition period without an agreement.
It is understood that while open to talks at the end of October, the government has underlined behind the scenes the importance of being clear at the October 15 summit on whether a deal is possible, given the need to prepare for a no-deal exit. .
Barnier told members of the European Parliament on Friday that he believed that the last two weeks of October would turn out to be the “critical period”, hoping that an agreement could be ready for ratification in early November.
The two sides are stuck on issues of access to British waters for European fishing fleets and the level playing field provisions that Brussels is pushing to ensure that neither side can undermine standards or unfairly subsidize companies through state aid.
Ahead of last week’s talks, the government presented five new draft negotiating documents, including legal texts on fisheries, level playing field, law enforcement and judicial cooperation, civil nuclear cooperation and social security coordination.
Britain had offered a three-year transition period for European fishing fleets, allowing them to prepare for post-Brexit changes, as part of a last-minute sweetener deal. Catches by the EU fleets would be “phased out” between 2021 and 2024 to give European industry time to adapt to the changes, but the French government has so far refused to approve the main changes proposed by London.
On state aid, EU sources said the UK had offered to lay down a series of principles on controlling internal subsidies. But the document did not offer appropriate “governance” proposals that would allow Brussels to make the UK deliver on its promises, they added.
On Friday, Frost said there had been progress on state aid, but that the gap between the two sides on fisheries remained wide and that without a measure from Brussels no deal would be possible.
It is understood that the message was relayed by Johnson to Von der Leyen during their conference call on Saturday.
