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Michel Barnier has told MEPs that he is ready for four more days of decisive Brexit negotiations, with growing skepticism among EU member states about the usefulness of more talks.
After spending a week in isolation after a member of the bloc team tested positive for coronavirus, Barnier and his staff resumed face-to-face negotiations in London on Saturday morning.
Barnier told MEPs in a private meeting on Friday that he would work through the weekend and then “maybe a day or two more” in a last attempt to bridge the large gaps between the sides.
EU sources said there was a growing feeling that the lack of progress and the need to prepare companies for the repercussions of a no-deal British exit from the EU made it unwise for negotiations to continue beyond that date. .
With just 34 days before the end of the transition period, European parliament officials warned Barnier that organizing sufficient scrutiny and a consent vote of MEPs before the end of the year would be difficult without a deal by Wednesday.
An extraordinary session of the EU chamber has been scheduled for December 28, as first revealed by The Guardian. The final result would be announced at 6.30pm CET.
There is some question whether the EU would be willing to take the blame for a no-deal exit by pulling out if it doesn’t make a breakthrough this week.
There is a “worst case” option of the deal being applied provisionally and the European Parliament holding a vote after the end of the year, if the extra time seems useful, but that is not currently being considered.
The European Parliament has insisted, with Barnier’s backing, that it will have the “last word” on the trade and security treaty.
Negotiations remain stalled on the level of access to be granted to European fishing fleets in UK waters, and the means by which either party can counter if the other seeks to gain a competitive advantage by diverging on environmental, labor or environmental issues. environmental. social standards.
Barnier expressed his dismay to the EU ambassadors on Friday that the UK was still claiming that the EU-Canada trade deal offered a precedent for their negotiating demands.
He described progress on the “level playing field” provisions as “short-lived”, with progress from one week constantly at risk of being overturned the next.
In the political statement on the future relationship, both parties pledged to “respect the high common standards” in the UK and the EU “at the end of the transition period in the areas of state aid, competition, social and labor standards, medium environment, the climate crisis and relevant fiscal matters ”.
Chronology
From Brefusal to Brexit: A History of Britain in the EU
Brefusal
French President Charles de Gaulle vetoes Britain’s entry into the EEC, accusing the UK of “deep-seated hostility” towards the European project.
Brentry
With Sir Edward Heath signing the accession treaty the year before, the UK joins the EEC in an official ceremony complete with a torchlight rally, bowing officials and a procession of political leaders, including former Prime Ministers Harold Macmillan and Alec Douglas -Home.
Referendum
The UK decides to stay in the common market after 67% voted “yes”. Margaret Thatcher, later to be the leader of the Conservative Party, campaigned to stay.
‘Give us back our money’
Margaret Thatcher negotiated what became known as the UK’s refund with other EU members after the “iron lady” marched to the former French royal palace at Fontainebleau to demand “our own money back” claiming that for every £ 2 contributed we received only £ 1 “despite being one of the” poorest three “members of the community.
It was a move that sowed the seeds of conservative euroscepticism that would later spark the Brexit schism in the party.
The Witches speech
Thatcher notified the EU community at a decisive moment in EU policy in which she questioned the expansionist plans of Jacques Delors, who had indicated that 80% of all decisions on economic and social policy would be made by the European Community. within 10 years. a European government in “embryo”. That was a bridge too far for Thatcher.
The cold war ends
Collapse of the Berlin Wall and fall of communism in Eastern Europe, which would later lead to the expansion of the EU.
‘No no no’
The divisions between the UK and the EU deepened when Thatcher told the Commons in an infamous speech that it was’ no, no, no ‘to what she saw as Delors’ continued takeover. Rupert Murdoch’s Sun newspaper reinforces its opposition to Europe with a two-fingered cover, “Up Yours Delors.”
Black wednesday
A collapse of the pound forced Prime Minister John Major and then-Chancellor Norman Lamont to remove the UK from the Exchange Rate Mechanism.
The single market
On January 1, controls and customs duties were eliminated throughout the bloc. Thatcher praised the vision of “a single market without barriers, visible or invisible, giving you direct and unhindered access to the purchasing power of more than 300 million of the world’s richest and most prosperous people.”
Maastricht Treaty
Conservative rebels vote against the treaty that paved the way for the creation of the European Union. John Major won the vote the next day in a Pyrrhic victory.
Repairing the relationship
Tony Blair fixes the relationship. Adheres to the social charter and labor rights.
United Kingdom
Nigel Farage chose a MEP and immediately goes on the offensive in Brussels. “Our interests are better served if we are not members of this club,” he said in his inaugural address. “The playing field is almost as level as the decks of the Titanic after hitting an iceberg.”
The euro
Chancellor Gordon Brown decides that the UK will not join the euro.
The EU is expanding to include eight countries of the former eastern bloc, including Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic.
The EU is expanding again, allowing Romania and Bulgaria to join the club.
Migratory crisis
The anti-immigration hysteria seems to take hold with references to Katie Hopkins’ “cockroaches” in the Sun and tabloid headlines like “How many more can we take?” and “Calais Crisis: Send in the Dogs.”
David Cameron returns from Brussels with an EU reform package, but it is not enough to appease the eurosceptic wing of his own party.
Brexit referendum
The UK votes to leave the European Union, triggering the resignation of David Cameron and paving the way for Theresa May to become Prime Minister.
Britain leaves the EU
After years of parliamentary deadlock during Theresa May’s attempt to reach a deal, the UK leaves the EU.
The UK has agreed to non-regression in the rules, but does not want EU legislation to be the basis. That would introduce concepts from the EU and the European court of justice into the treaty. Therefore, the two sides are locked in conversations about how to define their current high common standards.
The EU is also seeking a “ratchet clause” to ensure that, as one party develops its standards over time, the other party will face consequences if it decides not to follow equivalent regulations.
Negotiators are working on a model in which if one party raises standards, the other should consider adopting them. Next, the EU wants an independent panel to judge whether the refusal of one of the parties to act together is creating a competitive advantage. Then they would establish a remedy. But the UK resists anything that amounts to Brussels having the right to prior approval of national legislation.
The scale of the difference between the two sides in the fishery was exposed after Barnier told MEPs on Friday that the UK was trying to repatriate 80% of the current EU catch in British seas, described as a “colossal” volume.
So far, the EU has only offered to return between 15% and 18%, an offer that British negotiators describe as “laughable”.
