UK-EU trade deal still possible Barnier says after talks in Brussels extended
A trade deal between the UK and European Union is still possible, Brussels' chief negotiator Michel Bar ni er has insisted.
Talks were extended on Sunday after Boris Johnson and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen agreed to continue the process despite major differences still remaining.
Mr Barnier updated diplo - mats from the 27 EU states about the progress which has been made before resuming negotiations with his UK counterpart Lord Frost.
For months the talks have been deadlocked on the issues of fishing rights and the "level playing field" to ensure that neither side can unfairly compete with the other on environmental standards, workers' rights or state subsidies.
Mr Barnier confirmed that those remain the main issues, telling reporter sin Brussels "two conditions are not met yet" but "this deal, it is still possible".
The other issue which has dogged the negotiations - the legal mechanisms to govern any deal - was not mentioned by Mr Bar ni er, suggesting those difficulties may have been resolved.
Mr Barnier said the "next few days" are important if a deal is to be in place for 1 January.
"It is our responsibility to give the talks every chance of success," he said.
"Never before has such a comprehensive agreement (trade, energy, fisheries, transport, police and judicial cooperation etc) been negotiated so transparently and in such little time."
A spokesman for the grouping of EU ambassadors said there is" full support for the resilient and persistent" negotiating team led by Mr Barnier.
The UK' sc ur renttr ading arrangements with the EU expire at the end of the month, meaning any new deal would have to be in place by January 1. If not, tariffs and quotas will apply and bureaucracy will increase, causing further damage to an economy already ravaged by coronavirus.
Irish premier Micheal Martin said it will be difficult for the EU and UK negotiating teams to "square the circle" to reach a post-brexit trade deal.
But the Taoiseach said both sides are aware of the" enormity and severity" of a nodeal Brexit on their respective economies. "They have really sought to crack the level playing field issue along with fisheries and, crucially, this dispute mechanism that would under pin any level playing field framework," he said.
The need for any deal to be approved by Parliament means that talks cannot continue right up until New Year's Eve, but MPS are braced for the prospect of sitting over the festive period.
Business Secretary Alok Sharma told the BBC: "We have always said the transition period ends at the end of December and we will not be continuing discussions beyond that.
"Any deal that we have will then have to go through Parliament, so that would really be cutting it quite fine."
But he added that Par li ament "can move very quickly" to approve a deal if it had to.
Former chief whip Mark Harper, speaking to BBC Radio 4's Westminster Hour, said: "Many of us are fully anticipating it's entirely possible we might be returning to Parliament between Christmas and New Year to scrutinise this and vote it through if a deal is done."