Ursula von der Leyen gives a press statement following a phone call
meeting with Britain’s Prime Minister, at the European Commission
in Brussels on December 13, 2020. Olivier HOSLET / POOL /
AFP
The European Union and Britain will return to the
negotiating table on Monday after agreeing to abandon a supposed
make-or-break deadline for a post-Brexit trade
pact.
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen and Prime Minister Boris Johnson
had said last week they would decide whether an agreement was
possible by the end of Sunday, but agreed in a crisis call to “go
the extra mile”.
“Our negotiating teams have been working day and night over
recent days,” von der Leyen said in a video message, reading out a
joint statement agreed with Johnson.
“We have accordingly mandated our negotiators to continue the
talks and to see whether an agreement can even at this late stage
be reached,” the leaders said.
They did not offer a new deadline but Conservative Party
lawmaker Mark Harper suggested the extended talks could go right to
the wire, with less than three weeks until Britain leaves the
single market at the end of the month.
“Many of us are fully anticipating it’s entirely possible we
might be returning to Parliament between Christmas and new year to
scrutinise this and vote it through if a deal is done,” he told the
Press Association.
EU negotiator Michel Barnier and Britain’s David Frost held
talks late on Saturday and early on Sunday. They have been
alternating between the capitals but a European official said that,
for the moment, they would remain in Brussels.
Barnier will brief European ambassadors on Monday morning about
the current state of negotiations, EU Council spokesman Sebastian
Fischer said.
Johnson insisted that an agreement was far from sure.
“I’m afraid we’re still very far apart on some key things, but
where there’s life there’s hope,” he said at Downing Street after
briefing his cabinet about the call.
“The UK certainly won’t be walking away from the talks. I still
think there’s a deal to be done if our partners want to do it,” he
added.
Reports suggested the two sides were exploring a potential deal
on how to respond if their regulations diverge over time and
threaten fair competition.
But Britain cannot compromise on the “fundamental nature”
of Brexit, controlling UK laws and fisheries, the prime
minister said.
Without a deal, cross-Channel trade will revert to World Trade
Organization rules, with tariffs driving up prices and generating
paperwork for importers, and the failed negotiation could poison
relations between London and the continent for years to come.
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“Either way, whatever happens, the UK will do very, very well,”
Johnson insisted.
‘No stone unturned’
Ireland stands to lose out more than any other EU country if
trade with its larger neighbour is disrupted, and cautiously
welcomed the reprieve.
“Time to hold our nerve and allow the negotiators to inch
progress forward, even at this late stage. Joint statement
on Brexit negotiations is a good signal. A deal clearly
very difficult, but possible,” Foreign Minister Simon Coveney
tweeted.
The hardline pro-Brexit faction in Johnson’s own British
Conservatives was unconvinced, however, and MPs fired their own
tweets warning against any concessions.
Much of the text of a possible trade deal is said to be ready,
but Britain and Brussels are wrangling over a mechanism to allow
for retaliation if UK and EU laws diverge in a way that puts
continental firms at a competitive disadvantage.
“The defence of the single market is a red line for the European
Union,” an EU source said. “What we have proposed to the United
Kingdom respects British sovereignty.”
In London, the government insists that Britain is ready to leave
the union and handle its own affairs after 47 years of close
economic integration.
Downing Street says it has mapped out “every single foreseeable
scenario” for problems after December 31, and “no one needs to
worry about our food, medicine or vital supply chains”.
The government says it is ready to offer hefty new support for
sectors in the firing line such as farming and autos, but British
business groups are aghast at the lack of clarity on future trading
rules.
Scotland’s nationalist government meanwhile demanded an end to
“the crippling uncertainty” of a possible
no-deal Brexit coming on top of the coronavirus
pandemic.
And the European Parliament is deeply unhappy as time runs out
for a thorough review of any pact before the year-end deadline.
“Irresponsible and bitter,” senior German MEP Bernd Lange
tweeted about the drawn-out saga, warning that serious ratification
is becoming “increasingly impossible”.
AFP
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