Boris Johnson and the EU have set a Sunday deadline for a “firm decision” on the fate of their future-relationship negotiations after three hours of “frank” talks in Brussels ended in deadlock and gloom.
A UK government official said that “very large gaps remain between the two sides” following a meeting over dinner in the Belgian capital between Mr Johnson and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.
The prime minister flew back to London late on Wednesday night with allies saying that there had not been “much of a glimmer of progress” during talks at the commission headquarters.
Ms von der Leyen said after the meeting that the two leaders had “a lively and interesting discussion” and “gained a clear understanding of each other’s positions”, but she acknowledged that “they remain far apart”.
“We agreed that the teams should immediately reconvene to try to resolve these essential issues,” she said. “We will come to a decision by the end of the weekend.”
The encounter was billed by both sides as an attempt to unlock talks with barely three weeks left until Britain leaves the single market, but it ended with the prospect of a no-deal Brexit hanging over the negotiations.
The absence of a joint statement by the two leaders and Mr Johnson’s swift departure from the Berlaymont building after 11pm on Wednesday suggested a bruising encounter. A British official said the talks had been “frank”.
Negotiations are deadlocked over EU demands intended to preserve fair competition for businesses and over the fate of EU fishing rights in UK waters.
The two leaders had agreed that “by Sunday a firm decision should be taken about the future of the talks”, the UK government official said. An EU official warned that Sunday would be “crunch time” after what had proven to be difficult talks on Wednesday night.
The negotiations over the coming days will take place in Brussels, an EU official confirmed.
“It’s hard to see what could happen between now and Sunday to alter the equation,” said one EU diplomat. “It looks like we’ve now hit the home stretch with brakes and steering wheel locked.”
Ms von der Leyen will debrief EU leaders on the outcome of the discussions at a summit meeting in Brussels on Thursday. EU ambassadors will also be given an update in the morning.
Ahead of the dinner, Mr Johnson had tweeted that the UK would “prosper mightily as an independent nation” irrespective of whether the talks succeeded or failed. Earlier on Wednesday, he set out his red lines to the House of Commons, centred around his familiar themes of sovereignty and regulatory freedom.
Mr Johnson told MPs that the EU wanted to leave Britain as “the only country in the world not to have sovereign control over its own fishing waters”.
He also alleged that Brussels wanted to “automatically have the right to punish us and retaliate” if the UK deviated from future EU rules in areas such as labour standards and environmental policy.
The question of how to come up with a mechanism that would preserve a “level playing field” between the EU and UK is a central concern for EU capitals.
German chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday warned Brussels would accept a no-deal outcome if the two sides could not figure out a way to minimise the risk of unfair competition between their markets.
An EU official said prior to the dinner that the commission would shortly publish contingency measures to try to avoid chaos should the talks collapse. The measures will be temporary and cover basic arrangements such as the right for cross-Channel flights to continue after January 1.
The commission’s decision to treat their British guest to a seafood-heavy menu featuring a starter of scallops and a main course of turbot with mashed potato raised some eyebrows in Brussels, with the two sides sparring over the fate of the €650m of fish that EU boats catch in UK waters every year.
One particularly thorny issue is the fate of centuries-old EU rights in the waters close to the British coast, where scallops are one of the most lucrative catches. Under a no-deal Brexit, scallop exports to the EU would be subject to a 20 per cent tariff.
Source: Economy - ft.com
