The next round of talks between the European Union (EU) and Great Britain on the relationship between the two sides after the Brexit begins in Brussels on Monday.
The two sides agreed in mid-June to speed up negotiations, given that there were only six months left to reach an agreement.
The head of the British delegation David Frost arrived in Brussels on Sunday with a team of about 20 people to take part in the talks, which will last for a week, the newspaper “Telegraph” reports.
Britain is accelerating the pace of negotiations and is reluctant to spend time in negotiations that are not making progress, anonymous sources in the British government revealed to the newspaper.
One source said that there was no reason why a draft agreement could not be drawn up in the next few months and said that a later agreement would be too late to shed light on the economy.
Michel Barnier, head of the European Union (EU) negotiating delegation, has called on London to come up with clear signals of compromise.
Britain left the EU on 31 January, and both sides have time until the end of the year to agree on their future relationship. However, in fact, in order for the new trade agreement and the framework agreement to enter into force on 1 January next year, the negotiating parties must sign it no later than October.
At present, the United Kingdom is still part of the EU’s internal market and customs union, forced to comply with the bloc’s rules and contribute to its budget. However, if no agreement is reached during the transitional period, trade between the two parties will henceforth be governed by World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, which provide for various customs barriers.
Britain has formally rejected the possibility of extending the transitional period after leaving the EU.
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