Brexit talks paused, restart eyed

The leaders will hold a telephone call on Saturday after their envoys Michel Barnier and David Frost broke up after an arduous week of day and night meetings without a breakthrough

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — British and European negotiators broke off their talks on a post-Brexit trade deal without agreement Friday and handed off the task of clearing the logjam to Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Union (EU) chief Ursula von der Leyen.

The leaders will hold a telephone call on Saturday after their envoys Michel Barnier and David Frost broke up after an arduous week of day and night meetings without a breakthrough.

“We agreed today that the conditions for an agreement are not met, due to significant divergences on level playing field, governance and fisheries,” the EU’s Barnier and UK’s Frost said, in a tweeted joint statement.

“We agreed to pause the talks in order to brief our principals on the state of play of the negotiations. President Von der Leyen and Prime Minister Johnson will discuss the state of play tomorrow afternoon,” they said.

Barnier was expected to leave London, and the leaders’ call will take place late on Saturday afternoon.

The pause to talks that have dragged on for eight months came despite a tight deadline, with Britain due to leave the EU single market on 31 December with or without a follow-on trade agreement.

We agreed to pause the talks in order to brief our principals on the state of play of the negotiations. President Von der Leyen and Prime Minister Johnson will discuss the state of play tomorrow afternoon.

A deal is needed to avoid deep disruptions to both economies — but especially Britain’s — that have already been brought low by the coronavirus pandemic.

Despite the tight timetable, on Friday France threatened to veto any deal that fails short of their demands on ensuring fair trade and access to UK fishing waters.

Last-minute debates were also taken up by haggling over an enforcement mechanism to govern any deal.