Barnier says draft deal is ‘fair and balanced’

The European Union’s Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said yesterday the draft Brexit deal reached with London was “fair and balanced”, as the bloc haggled with Britain over any extension to the envisaged transition period.

Barnier said after briefing the 27 national EU ministers that they generally approved of the draft divorce agreement reached last week, and that a blank in the document on the end date for a possible extension of the status-quo transition period should be resolved for a summit on Sunday.

“The deal is fair and balanced,” Barnier said. “We are in fact at a decisive moment in this process; no one should lose sight of the progress that has been achieved.

“In particular, member states support the draft withdrawal agreement. The EU side will still have to decide the internal process for agreeing to extend the transition period.”

British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Monday she wanted the transition phase to have ended by the time the UK is due to hold a national election in 2022.