Brussels on Thursday warned that the EU and UK had failed to find the “fine balance of fairness” needed to unlock a trade deal, as leaders predicted difficult negotiations until a final decision is taken on the fate of the future relationship talks on Sunday.
Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, spoke briefly about her Wednesday evening dinner in Brussels with UK prime minister Boris Johnson as she arrived for an EU summit at which the trade talks between the bloc and the UK have been pushed to the margins.
Ms von der Leyen confirmed as she arrived at Brussels’ Europa building that the two sides would “take a decision” on the talks on Sunday.
“I had a very long conversation yesterday night with the prime minister Boris Johnson,” she said. “It was a very good conversation but it is difficult.”
Ms von der Leyen underlined that the fate of the trade talks would hinge on the two sides’ ability to settle on a system that would meet the EU’s demands that its companies be shielded from unfair competition by UK businesses.
“This fine balance of fairness has not been achieved so far,” she said.
The Wednesday dinner was billed by the EU and the UK as an attempt to unblock the trade talks after the two sides’ negotiators found themselves at an impasse over ways of ensuring a so-called level playing field for business competition, as well as the bloc’s fishing rights in UK waters.
But the absence of a joint statement by Ms von der Leyen and Mr Johnson after the dinner, and the UK prime minister’s swift departure from Brussels, highlighted the lack of tangible progress.
The EU negotiating team has proposed an “evolution mechanism” that would allow either side to request consultations if it considered the level playing field was in jeopardy.
As a last resort, the disadvantaged party could restrict access to its markets under the EU plan.
But Britain has argued the EU approach was an attempt to force the country to continue to follow the bloc’s rules.
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, and Emmanuel Macron, the French president, did not mention the discussions with the UK at all as they arrived for the Brussels summit, confining their remarks to matters including the EU’s budget and climate policy.
Charles Michel, the European Council president who will chair the EU summit, said leaders would get a “short debrief” of the dinner from Ms von der Leyen.
“We will not have a long debate on Brexit,” he said, citing issues such as Covid-19 and climate change that would dominate the summit agenda.
Micheál Martin, the Irish taoiseach, called for EU and UK negotiators to do everything they could to strike a deal, but he admitted the situation was “very difficult”.
With barely any time left for negotiations, given the UK’s Brexit transition period ends on December 31, there was no sign on Thursday of either side backing down.
Alexander De Croo, the Belgian prime minister, said a “bad deal” would be “even worse” than a no-deal outcome in the talks.
On the new Sunday deadline for assessing the state of the talks, Dominic Raab, UK foreign secretary, told the BBC: “I think it’s a moment of finality . . . We will need a final decision by Sunday on the future of the negotiations.”
Mr Raab said Britain was determined to regain sovereignty over its fisheries and ability to make its own laws. “The EU will need to move significantly on both of those key points because they are points of principle,” he added. However, he said: “We would much prefer a deal, no stone is being left unturned.”
Source: Economy - ft.com
