No progress: EU, UK far apart in post-Brexit talks

BRUSSELS — Another round of trade discussions between the European Union and the U.K. ended Friday — and once again there were no signs of progress ahead of a looming deadline on whether a transition arrangement can be extended.

Following four days of video discussions because of the coronavirus pandemic, the two sides remained at loggerheads on a number of issues, including on regulations for businesses. Their positions on fisheries also remain far apart, with the U.K. adamantly opposed to EU demands for long-term access to British waters.

“The truth is there was no significant progress this week,” the EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier said during a news conference.

His counterpart on the U.K. side also failed to signal any meaningful breakthrough.

“Progress remains limited, but our talks have been positive in tone,” David Front, the U.K.’s chief negotiator, said.

The U.K. left the political institutions of the EU on Jan. 31 but remains inside the EU’s tariff-free economic zone until the end of the year. That so-called transition period can be extended by two years but a request to do so has to be made by July 1. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said he won’t ask for an extension.

The most likely prospect for an imminent breakthrough in talks now rests on a high-level political meeting between Johnson and the EU’s top official, European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen, scheduled for sometime this month.

If the two sides don’t reach an agreement by the end of the year, tariffs and quotas will be slapped on trade between the two sides.

Barnier lambasted the U.K. for trying to distance itself from commitments made in the political declaration that accompanied the Brexit agreement, which dealt with issues related to its departure from the bloc such as citizens’ rights and the value of historic liabilities.

The EU’s Michel Barnier criticized the U.K. for distancing itself from commitments.