EU, UK still working on deal after Brexit
BRUSSELS — The European Union and Britain said Friday that wide gaps remained in their fraught talks on a rudimentary trade agreement following the Brexit divorce and called for intensified negotiations before a deadline in a couple of weeks.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will have a video conference Saturday to chart the way forward, but the EU’s top official relied more on hope and perseverance than rational analysis that a deal could still be struck.
“Where there is a will, there is a way,“she said in an assessment of the state of play two weeks before an EU summit to specifically address the post-Brexit trade issue.
“We should not forget that we have made progress on many, many different fields. But, of course, the most difficult ones are still completely open,” von der Leyen said.
Further highlighting the divisions, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Britain’s plans announced this month to breach the legally binding withdrawal agreement it signed with the EU to regulate trade on the island of Ireland and make sure peace is preserved there was a big blow.
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Council President Charles Michel said after an EU summit that the 27 leaders agreed “the Withdrawal Agreement must be implemented in full. No question about that.“
Still, the EU and the U.K. recognized talks had to continue if only because too much was at stake economically for both sides if there would be no deal at the end of the year.