Michel Barnier, the European Brexit negotiator, is disappointed, concerned and surprised that negotiations with the British this week have made no progress. A disgruntled Barnier said this at today’s press conference, saying that there is a risk that the British will not agree with the European Union on the rules of separation by the end of the year.
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“Too often this week it seemed as if we were going back instead of moving forward,” Barniera was quoted as saying by The Financial Times. “I don’t understand why we’re wasting time,” he added. The failure of the last round of talks, which began on Tuesday evening, leaves very little time for a trade agreement to be reached between the two parties – the resulting text will need to be translated into all EU languages and ratified by 31 December this year. Barnier said an agreement was unlikely at the moment.
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We are worried about the state of play of the negotiations with #UK. We do not see how we can have a better agreement if we leave the most difficult subjects to the end. We risk running out of time.
My remarks after this week’s negotiations: https://t.co/emQJgP1ps6 pic.twitter.com/vyJ2nsWRsh
– Michel Barnier (@MichelBarnier) August 21, 2020
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David Frost, the main British negotiator, also spoke about the “little progress” in a separate statement. However, he continued to insist that an agreement was still possible, although it would not be easy to reach.
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While the EU is working to make progress on state aid rules and fisheries, London would prefer to postpone these thorny issues and finalize other parts of the agreement on which there is greater agreement. Frost therefore criticized the EU: “The European Union not only insists that we accept the continuation of the current state aid and fisheries policy, but also that we agree on this before we move on to other important issues. ‘This unnecessarily complicates progress.” he complained.
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Post-Brexit trade deal between UK and the EU “seems unlikely” at this stage, warns EU
Michel Barnier said he was “concerned” after seventh round of talks, while UK negotiator David Frost spoke of “little progress”https://t.co/TpdgFkKDeg
— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) August 21, 2020
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Barnier confirmed that the British had come up with a draft trade agreement during the just-concluded round of talks, but this did not address major EU concerns and rather reflected current British positions. “There will be no à la carte access to Europe’s single market,” he told the British. In other words, you can’t just choose what suits London.
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Frost then said his country was seeking an agreement that would give it “sovereign control over its own laws, borders and waters.”
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The two negotiators had dinner together after Thursday’s meeting, but according to unnamed sources, there was tension between them. “It was a nice dinner, we had a friendly discussion, but we did not hide the differences between us,” one of the diplomats told reporters.
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The next round of talks is scheduled for September 7 in London.
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