There may be no trade deal next week, warns Barnier
MICHEL BARNIER yesterday dampened hopes that a Brexit trade deal could be done next week and warned there was still a lot of work to be done before an agreement was struck.
The EU’S chief negotiator met David Frost, his UK counterpart, as negotiations resumed at the European Commission in Brussels. The trade talks were expected to continue through the weekend and into next week.
Mr Barnier tweeted: “After 7 days of intensive negotiations in London, talks continue. Working hard for an agreement. Much remains to be done.” Lord Frost did not comment.
There was progress in the London talks but no breakthrough in the main three stumbling blocks of fishing, level playing field guarantees and the deal’s enforcement.
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said on Thursday that the talks would focus on devising an enforceable level playing field with dispute-resolution mechanisms.
But Britain had rejected an enforceable level playing field guarantee, insisting on commitments similar to those in the EU’S trade deal with Canada.
A senior German government official yesterday expressed concern over the lack of progress, given the reliance of German companies on funding in the City of London. However, there were hopes a trade deal could be done, with negotiators expected to break off talks on or about Nov 3. That would set the scene for Boris Johnson and Mrs von der Leyen to finalise a deal before the mid-november deadline.
That would give the European Parliament time to ratify a deal before the end of the transition period and avoid a no
‘After 7 days of negotiations, talks continue. Working hard for an agreement. Much remains to be done’
deal exit on Jan 1, which would mean the UK trading on WTO terms and tariffs.
Meanwhile, Britain had until today to respond to a European Commission lawsuit over the Internal Market Bill.
The legal process began after the UK missed an EU deadline to drop clauses in the Bill to do with Northern Ireland, which broke international law and overrode the Withdrawal Agreement.
The European Commission also brought a separate lawsuit yesterday against the UK over its “unjustifiably stricter” import restrictions on certain plant pests.