Britain, EU readying new try for trade deal
Negotiator: Both sides need to budge
BRUSSELS — Britain and the European Union will resume their stalled trade negotiations at an “intensified” pace, the British government said Wednesday, in hope of striking a deal within weeks to avoid a messy economic breakup at the end of the year.
The announcement came five days after Prime Minister Boris Johnson declared that the talks were over unless the bloc made a “fundamental” change of policy.
There is little sign that has happened. But Britain seized on conciliatory comments by EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier, saying they offered the chance of a breakthrough.
Barnier has already agreed to “intensify” talks — a key U.K. demand — and to discuss the legal text of an agreement. On Wednesday he said compromise would be needed from both sides to get a deal.
That turned out to be the key. Britain has long complained that the EU expects it to make all the concessions.
Johnson’s office said that on the basis of Barnier’s words it was “ready to welcome the EU team to London to resume negotiations later this week” for “intensified” talks.
“It is clear that significant gaps remain between our positions in the most difficult areas, but we are ready, with the EU, to see if it is possible to bridge them in intensive talks,” Downing Street said in a statement.
Barnier spokesman Daniel Ferrie said EU negotiators would travel to London today. The first chunk of negotiations is due to run through the weekend.
Barnier told the European Parliament that “despite the difficulties we’ve faced, an agreement is within reach if both sides are willing to work constructively, if they are willing to compromise.”
He also said that “the European Union’s attitude in this negotiation has in no way shifted and it will not shift.”
But Downing Street focused on Barnier’s words about compromise and his acknowledgement that a deal would have to respect the U.K.’s “sovereignty,” a key term for British Brexit supporters.
The two sides have been trying to strike a trade deal since the U.K. left the EU on Jan. 31. They must do so within weeks if an agreement is to be ratified by the end of the year, when a post-Brexit transition period ends.