UK and EU extend Brexit talks after ditching deadline
14 December, 2020
EUROPE and Britain will go back to the negotiating table on Monday (Dec 14) 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 finish of Sunday, but agreed in an emergency call to "move the extra mile".
"Our negotiating teams have already been morning and night over latest days," von der Leyen said in a video message, reading away a joint statement agreed with Johnson.
"We've accordingly mandated our negotiators to keep the talks and also to see whether an agreement can even as of this later stage be reached," the leaders said.
They did not give you a new deadline but Conservative Party lawmaker Mark Harper suggested the extended talks could go to the wire, with less than three weeks until Britain leaves the single market towards the end of the month.
"Many of us happen to be fully anticipating it's entirely possible we could be time for Parliament between Christmas and latest 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 in Saturday and early on Sunday. They have been alternating between your capitals but a European official explained that, for as soon as, they would remain in Brussels.
Barnier will brief European ambassadors about Monday morning about the current condition of negotiations, EU Council spokesman Sebastian Fischer said.
Johnson insisted an agreement was definately not sure.
"I'm afraid we're still very far aside on some key things, but where there's life there's hope," he said at Downing Street after briefing his cabinet about the decision.
"The UK certainly will not be walking away from the talks. I still believe there's a deal to be achieved if our partners wish to accomplish it," he added.
Reports suggested the two sides were exploring a good potential deal how to respond if their regulations diverge as time passes and threaten good competition.
But Britain cannot compromise on the "fundamental nature" of Brexit, controlling UK laws and fisheries, the prime minister said.
With out a deal, cross-Channel trade will revert to World Trade Organization rules, with tariffs driving up prices and making paperwork for importers, and the failed negotiation could poison relations between London and the continent for years to come.
"In any event, whatever happens, the UK will do very, perfectly," Johnson insisted.
"NO STONE UNTURNED"
Ireland stands to reduce 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 invite the negotiators to inch progress forwards, even as of this late stage. Joint statement on Brexit negotiations is an effective signal. A deal evidently very hard, 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 reported to be ready, but Britain and Brussels are wrangling more than a mechanism to allow for retaliation if UK and EU laws and regulations diverge in a way that puts continental businesses at a competitive disadvantage.
"The defence of the single industry is a red line for the European Union," an EU source said. "What we've proposed to the uk respects British sovereignty."
In London, the federal government insists that Britain is preparing to leave the union and handle its own affairs after 47 years of close economical integration.
Downing Road says it has mapped out "each and every foreseeable scenario" for challenges after Dec 31, and "no-one must worry about our food, medicine or perhaps vital supply chains".
The government says it really is prepared to offer hefty new support for sectors in the firing line such as for example farming and autos, but British business groups are aghast at having less clarity on future trading rules.
Scotland's nationalist federal government meanwhile demanded a finish 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-away saga, warning that serious ratification is now "increasingly impossible".
Source: www.channelnewsasia.com