British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will decide on Sunday whether or not to abandon the difficult post-Brexit trade negotiations, after a decisive telephone exchange at midday.
British negotiator David Frost met his European counterpart Michel Barnier on Sunday morning at the European Commission’s headquarters in Brussels, the day after final negotiations which ended late at night.
He came out an hour and a half later to return to the British diplomatic mission, noted an AFP journalist.
Ms von der Leyen and Mr Johnson are due to meet at midday, before an announcement later in the afternoon, according to Brussels and London.
No scenario can be ruled out, between an economically catastrophic “no deal”, the prolongation of discussions and even the announcement of a compromise – the most improbable -, as these tense talks, punctuated by bluffing blows and deadlines. outfits, have been full of twists and turns since their launch in March.
But the trend seemed negative on Saturday evening, a British government source having said that “as it stands, the EU’s offer (remains) unacceptable”.
London and Brussels have competed in pessimism in recent days, Mr Johnson estimating a failure “very, very likely”, when the head of the European executive considered “weak” the hopes of an agreement.
If the two leaders decided to extend the exchanges again, it could only be “a few days at most”, warned the French Secretary of State for European Affairs, Clément Beaune.
“We are already in additional time,” he said in the Journal Du Dimanche.
Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin, whose country is in the front line in the event of a “no deal”, told the BBC that he “strongly” hopes for an agreement. “The fact that they negotiated into the night is an important sign in itself,” he said.
Despite ever more intensive exchanges, the differences seem irreconcilable between the British who want to regain total commercial freedom and Europeans anxious to protect their huge single market.
Royal Navy
“If the EU can find a way to treat us like a normal independent country, I think there is every reason to be confident, but we are not there yet”, the chief insisted on Sunday. from British diplomacy Dominic Raab on SkyNews.
Sign of renewed tension, the British Ministry of Defense announced, on the eve of this new deadline, that Royal Navy ships were standing by to protect national fishing grounds where clashes could occur in the event of absence of agreement.
The UK, which officially left the EU on January 31, will abandon the single market and customs union for good on December 31.
Without a trade agreement, its trade with the EU will be carried out under the sole rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO), synonymous with customs duties or quotas, at the risk of a new shock for economies already weakened by the coronavirus.
The discussions stumble on three subjects: the access of European fishermen to British waters, the way of settling disputes in the future agreement and above all the conditions that Europeans demand of the British to avoid any unfair competition.
The EU is ready to offer London duty-free and quota-free access to its huge market. But in this case it intends to ensure that the United Kingdom will not engage in dumping by deviating from European environmental, social, fiscal or State aid standards.
If so, it wants to be able to take swift countermeasures, such as tariffs, without waiting for the dispute to be resolved through traditional arbitration, in order to protect its businesses. London strongly opposes it.
Pragmatic, the Commission on Thursday published emergency measures to maintain, in the event of a “no deal”, air and road transport between the United Kingdom and the EU for six months, as well as reciprocal access to fishing waters for one year.