Breakthrough in Brexit trade talks
Gove is ‘confident’ as hopes rise of deal in coming weeks after EU drops key demand
BRUSSELS dropped its threat to walk away from Brexit trade talks yesterday as Michael Gove declared he is confident a deal can now be reached.
The European Commission had warned negotiations would be ‘put at risk’ unless the UK abandoned controversial legislation overriding parts of the Withdrawal Agreement by tomorrow.
But the ultimatum was dropped as hopes rise that a trade deal can be struck in the next three weeks.
Following a meeting in Brussels, Mr Gove said last night that the two sides were ‘committed to using every moment available, every second, every minute, every hour, in order to reach agreement’.
The Minister for the Cabinet Office added: ‘I’m confident that we will.’
His counterpart, European Commission vice- president Maros Sefcovic, said there was an ‘urgent need to move into higher gear’.
The final round of formal negotiations, led by Lord Frost for Britain and Michel Barnier for the EU, will begin today and is scheduled to end on Friday.
But Downing Street expects informal discussions to continue ahead of the October 15-16 summit of European Union leaders which Boris Johnson has made his deadline for an agreement.
It is thought that the two sides will agree on Friday to begin an intensive period of talks behind closed doors in the lead up to the summit.
Yesterday the Government rebuffed a fresh demand from the EU to withdraw the legislation which could see the UK unilaterally tear up elements of the Brexit divorce deal.
At the Brussels talks, Mr Sefcovic reiterated calls for ministers to scrap the key provisions in the UK Internal Market Bill. But Mr Gove, who was joined by the UK’s envoy to Brussels Sir Tim Barrow, said it will continue going through Parliament with the contentious clauses.
‘We want to make sure that the Withdrawal Agreement is implemented in full,’ he told reporters. But those clauses are there, they’re in legislation, supported by the House of Commons, as a safety net, if need be. And those clauses will remain in that Bill.’
At a news conference following the meeting, Mr Sefcovic said the divorce deal ‘is to be implemented, not to be renegotiated, let alone unilaterally changed, disregarded or disapplied’.
He added: ‘ Once again, I reminded the UK Government today that the Withdrawal Agreement contains a number of mechanisms and legal remedies to address the violation of the legal obligations contained in the text.
‘And I underscored that the EU will not be shy in using it.’
‘Urgent need for higher gear’ ‘Will use every moment available’
But Mr Sefcovic backed away from remarks which he made three weeks ago when he warned that the trade negotiations would be ‘put at risk’ unless the legislation was withdrawn by the end of the month.
He indicated that efforts to resolve their differences would continue even if the UK rejected the EU’s demand.
When asked what will happen when the ultimatum expires tomorrow night, he said: ‘It will never be the EU which would cause the end of the negotiation of a future partnership between the EU and the UK.’
Last night European Council president Charles Michel risked reigniting tensions by calling Britain part of ‘an arc of instability’ on the EU’s borders. The former Belgian prime minister compared the UK to Russia, Libya and Syria.