BRUSSELS (Sputnik), Luc Rivet – As the United Kingdom and the European Union have agreed to give their uneasy divorce negotiations an additional month, their talks to try one last time and come to terms on the two key deadlocked issues — the trade deal and fisheries — are under time pressure.
On Saturday, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen agreed to extend the Brexit talks for another month in a bid to reach a longed-for trade agreement for after London’s withdrawal from the bloc.
The decision came on the heels of the European Council meeting last week, in which Brexit was discussed as an item beyond the formal agenda, according to von der Leyen.
Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson talks to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen inside Downing Street in London, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020
The initial transition period for the UK and the EU to negotiate the terms of future relations was due to expire on 31 December. In early September, Johnson said that further talks would be unnecessary if the two sides fail to agree on terms of a free trade agreement by 15 October.
Same Old Issues Blocking the Way
Both partners realise that they cannot negotiate until the end of December. Practical customs measures need to be taken, border controls need to be adapted and the financial sector needs to prepare, to name only a few of the factors.
There are many issues and micro-issues that still need to be solved, but the two main stumbling blocks are the post-Brexit trade relations and the ownership right to the fisheries that the UK conceded when joining the EU in 1973.
London wants its fishing grounds back, the politician argued.
Brexit supporters wave Union flags as the time nears 11 O’Clock, in Parliament Square, venue for the Leave Means Leave Brexit Celebration in central London on January 31, 2020, the moment that the UK formally leaves the European Union.
According to the ex-lawmaker, UK citizens treat Brexit as a reality and are rather preoccupied with other pressing issues, such as the resurgence of COVID-19 cases.
Johnson has indeed said that London would be okay with a deal like the one the EU has with Canada, for example, but will also be able to “more than live with” a deal like it has with Australia under the WTO rules.
Negotiators Firing Agreements at Each Other
On 9 September, the UK government introduced a bill to the House of Commons that, if passed into law, would override parts of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement. The bill’s purpose is to ensure uninterrupted trade between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK after the Brexit transition period expires and border checks resume. Brussels has criticised the legislation.
Cole also criticised Brussels’ persistent linking of the Brexit developments to the 1998 Good Friday agreement, which conciliated Ireland’s North and South, calling it “unacceptable” and “totally unfair and even unsavoury pressure” and stressing that the EU has no part in this agreement.
Brexit
Cole argued that trade and economic policies were “the real issue” for him.
According to the ex-EU civil servant, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is expected to ask EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier to exercise more flexibility in these last-chance talks with the UK counterparts and to try to use the remaining two weeks to “bridge the gaps” between their positions, as UK chief negotiator David Frost recently put it.
Frost and Barnier are expected to hold talks in London this week and then in Brussels the week after.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
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