Boris Johnson has agreed with Brussels on plans to hold “intensified” negotiations to try to unlock an EU/UK trade deal, building up to a moment of reckoning at the end of July.
A UK government spokesperson said an understanding had been reached with the EU to hold talks every week between June 29 and July 31, breaking away from the previous format of rounds held roughly every three weeks.
“This new process will involve a mix of formal negotiating rounds and smaller group meetings, both in London and Brussels assuming public health guidelines enable this,” the UK spokesperson said.
The move reflects calls from both sides for new impetus in the negotiations after the fourth round of talks ended last week in deadlock. David Frost, the UK’s chief negotiator, said at the time that the two sides were “close to reaching the limits of what we can achieve through the format of remote formal rounds”.
Michel Barnier, his EU opposite number, echoed his frustrations. He said last week that he had suggested to Mr Frost that the formal rounds should be supplemented with “more restricted formats so that we can concentrate on the more difficult issues”.
Mr Johnson will confirm the strategy in “high-level” talks with EU institutional leaders on Monday, as he tries to keep open the possibility of striking a free trade agreement before Britain’s post-Brexit transition deal ends on December 31.
Ahead of the videoconference talks, Mr Johnson agreed with Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission president, and Charles Michel, European Council president, to keep talks going in a sign that both sides still believe a deal is possible.
Recent negotiation rounds have been hobbled by the reliance on videoconferencing and beset by deep-rooted disagreements on diverse aspects of the two sides’ future relationship.
Britain rejects the EU’s vision of a “level playing field” of environmental, social and state-aid rules, despite Brussels insisting that it is a necessary quid pro quo for a trade deal. The EU also insists that it will never conclude a trade agreement without securing fishing rights in UK waters.
Other rifts concern security co-operation and the overarching dispute-settlement arrangements for the two sides’ future partnership.
Mr Barnier warned this week that any deal on a future relationship would need to be reached by October 31 to be ratified by the end of this year. Mr Johnson has ruled out extending the transition — a legal possibility which exists until the end of this month.
UK officials have called for a deal to be brokered by this summer, arguing that it would be unfair to British businesses to prolong the uncertainty, but senior EU diplomats have said that they believe that the crunch moment will come in September.
“This can’t drag on into the autumn and we want to have provided certainty by then, one way or the other,” said one British official.
Mr Johnson has threatened to walk away from the talks if no deal is possible, leaving Britain to trade with the EU — its biggest commercial partner — on World Trade Organization terms, including tariffs and tough border controls.
EU ambassadors on Wednesday endorsed the plans for intensified talks on condition that they be kept informed of progress, diplomats said.
