Michel Barnier: UK risks not reaching a deal on post-Brexit trade unless it commits

The EU’s top negotiator says the UK “will have to move” if it wants a post-Brexit trade deal by the end of 2020.

Michel Barnier said he was “concerned and disappointed” by the lack of concessions from his British counterpart, David Frost, after the couple met in London on Tuesday.

And he said the end of October was a “strict deadline” to finalize a deal for next year.

Number 10 said it was “clear [a deal] it won’t be easy to get. “

The prime minister’s official spokesman said that “great difficulties remain” between the two sides, but that the UK government remains in close contact with the EU.

The UK left the EU on January 31, but entered a transition period until December 31 as the two sides negotiate a trade deal.

During this time, the UK continues to follow some of the bloc’s rules.

If parliaments do not reach an agreement and do not ratify it before the end of the year, the United Kingdom will enter 2021 negotiating with the bloc under the rules of the World Trade Organization, which critics fear could hurt the economy.

But Boris Johnson has ruled out any extension until the end of the transition period, saying his priority was “to finish Brexit.”

‘Responsibility’

Speaking at an event in Dublin ahead of the eighth round of trade talks next week, Barnier said the EU “has made progress” on some of its goals.

The bloc’s chief negotiator said it was now the UK’s “choice” and “responsibility” to do the same, that is, on key issues such as so-called level playing field and fishing.

“We are ready to make a fair and constructive compromise, but not to the detriment of the EU,” he added. “I have shown a clear openness to find a compromise.

“Yes [the UK] do not move on the issues that are the key issues of the EU … the UK will risk not reaching an agreement. “

And it added that the spectators “do not be mistaken”, since there would be a “great difference between an agreement and a no agreement”.