Brexit talks flirt with failure as new deadline blown
22 December, 2020
EU and UK trade talks inched onwards under renewed pressure Monday (Dec 21) as transport chaos triggered by the emergence of a far more contagious variant of the coronavirus in Britain overshadowed efforts to reach a Brexit deal.
Only 10 days are left until Jan 1 when Britain will leave the EU single market and customs union and hopes of securing a new arrangement suffered a blow as another deadline passed.
EU and British negotiators remained in Brussels, with talks still blocked over the proper of European crew to keep fishing in Britain's rich waters, and concerns over fair trade rules.
Without a deal, Britain's links to europe end at nighttime on Dec 31 (11pm UK time) with a fresh tariff barrier which will sharpen the big shock of unravelling a half-century of EU membership.
A Sunday deadline set by the European Parliament, that could won't approve the agreement, expired lacking any agreement being found, leaving no time for MEPs to ratify an eventual deal before Jan 1.
"Political games from Westminster have wasted a lot of time," said German MEP Manfred Weber, who leads the conservative group in parliament, warning that members would take their time rather than "rubber stamp" a text.
But Weber also said parliament "will remain constructive partners" and that "alternative procedures are possible" - though what these were had not been yet agreed.
Given that a deal is situated in the next hours or days, European sources said this may involve a provisional implementation of a pact with MEPs having their say in January.
"Broadly speaking, the EU side is of the view that the only deadline that now matters is December 31," said Mujtaba Rahman of the Eurasia Group, a consultancy.
Whatever the case, the EU has finalised interim plans to control road and air transport for six months and fishing for a year in case of a no deal - but these would additionally require an agreement from the UK to reciprocate.
"We remain very definately not an accord," warned a European diplomat, who said that some on the EU-side were weighing whether it had been time to leave.
"Negotiating through exhaustion isn't very healthy," the diplomat added.
BREXIT 'TRAGEDY'
The talks in Brussels continued as Britain was effectively take off from the world, after Prime Minister Boris Johnson said a highly contagious mutation of the coronavirus was spreading in the UK.
The emergency left holiday travellers stranded and blocked goods crossing the Channel, presaging the potential effects of failing to secure a last-minute trade deal.
France's snap decision to halt trade across the Channel forced Britain to bring forward "Operation Stack", the contingency plan used to deal with anticipated freight tailbacks in the port city of Dover in case of a no-deal Brexit.
"It's a tragedy what's happening in Britain, which Brexit is a tragedy, we view it more and more every day," France's EU commissioner Thierry Breton told BFM Business, when asked about the new outbreak.
If Britain "had chosen to stay in europe ... today we're able to have helped them," Breton argued.
Brexit supporters accused France of exploiting the crisis to force trade concessions.
Restriction of freight movements "appears political," tweeted the anti-EU Bruges Group think tank.
'VERY GREEDY'
With just days before negotiators should head home for Christmas - assuming the borders reopen - Johnson insisted that Britain's position hasn't budged.
"It's vital that everybody realizes that the UK has got to have the ability to control its laws, completely, and in addition that we have to manage to control our very own fisheries," Johnson told a news conference.
Britain intends to assume control over its waters on January 1, but is preparing to allow continued usage of EU fishing fleets for a transitional period under new terms.
UK negotiator David Frost wants Britain to take back more than half the fish currently assigned beneath the EU quota system, under a three-year agreement.
The European side insists the UK accept getting back only a quarter of the fish quota - and that the transition period should last six years.
Hubert Carre, head of France's top commercial fishing lobby, said this was already too much.
"We're wondering whether a no deal is preferable to a bad deal," he told BFM, accusing the British to be "very greedy".
Source: www.channelnewsasia.com
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