Tag: Michel Barnier

One Week to Agree a Deal? Brexit Talks go to the Wire

Oliver JJ Lane – November 11, 2020

Yet another Brexit deadline has been floated, this time by European negotiators who have called November 19th the absolute deadline for a draft Brexit deal.

Michel Barnier and his team of negotiators returned to London this week for yet another round of Brexit talks, parts of the final approach to Britain finally decoupling from the European Union. Although the UK officially departed the bloc in January 2020, it has remained a non-voting member of the Union in all but name since as part of the so-called transition period which expires at the end of the year.

While several Brexit deadlines have come and gone — the idea becoming less and less meaningful with many involved increasingly assuming that talks will run to the very moment Britain leaves the transition period, and probably beyond — the EU has named another. European Union leaders are due to meet by video conference on November 19th, and Brexit negotiators from Brussels say there has to be an agreement in principle in place by then for it to be ratified by those leaders.

Left-wing newspaper The Guardian reports a Brussels source who said of the November 19th date: “If there isn’t good news by then, then you really have to say that time is up – it just isn’t possible… The leaders will need to see that it is there.”

The content of the Brexit deal will decide whether, in essence, Britain will actually leave the European Union at the end of this year or if it will remain in perpetual limbo.

https://www.breitbart.com

Brexit Talks Back on Less than Week After Boris Told UK to Prepare for Clean Break

Victoria Friedman – October 22, 2020

Negotiations between the UK and EU recommenced on Thursday less than one week after Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced talks had been a failure and told the nation to prepare for a no-deal, clean-break Brexit.

On Friday, the prime minister’s office had gone as far as telling Brussels’ chief negotiator Michel Barnier not to bother coming to London this week to continue trade talks, after Johnson’s deadline of October 15th came and went without significant progress towards signing a free trade agreement. The UK said that negotiations could only recommence if there was a substantial change to Brussels’ position.

For months, the EU has expected the UK to be the only partner in talks to compromise, with the bloc insisting on continued access to Britain’s fishing waters and agreement to anti-competition rules.

There appeared to be movement on the EU’s side, however, when Mr Barnier told the European Parliament on Wednesday: “We will seek the necessary compromises on both sides. In order to do our utmost to reach an agreement, we will do so right up until the last day that it’s possible to do so.”

“We want a deal that will be mutually beneficial to both parties in respect of the autonomy and sovereignty of both sides. A deal reflecting a balanced compromise.

“An agreement is within reach.”

The UK’s negotiator Lord David Frost said in response that “a basis for negotiations with the EU and Michel Barnier has been re-established”.

https://www.breitbart.com

UK-EU Post-Brexit Talks: There’s Just 30% Chance of Clinching Trade Deal, British Media Says

– September 4, 2020

In late July, EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier blamed Britain for failing to show a “due level of engagement” in the post-Brexit trade talks between Brussels and London.

Senior UK government officials were quoted by The Times as saying on Friday that there is only 30% to 40% chance that Britain and the EU will conclude a trade agreement before the end of this year.

The officials pointed to the current impasse in the talks over state aid rules-related issues.

The British government has repeatedly refused to comply with state aid rules, insisting that Brexit’s essence stipulates the UK alone deciding its own regulations.

Also adding pessimism over the EU-UK trade deal is UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s recent proposal aimed at British fishermen doubling the volume of their catch from the country’s coastal waters.

Brussels responded by rejecting the proposal which it claimed would result in the loss of one in three fishing boats in Europe.

The British officials’ reported prediction comes a few weeks after EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier voiced his disappointment and concern about the latest round of post-Brexit talks between Brussels and London, saying that “the British negotiators have not shown any real willingness to move forward”.

Barnier added that in order to get a deal, Britain should come with “clear and constructive proposals” during the next round of talks scheduled for 7 September in London.

At the same time, the EU chief negotiator said that some progress on technical issues had been made during the talks which must be concluded to have the full legal text be ready by October.

The two sides currently remain at odds over the post-Brexit trade talks as Barnier and his UK counterpart David Frost blame each other for the stalemate.

https://sputniknews.com

Brexit: ‘Clock is ticking,’ warns EU’s Michel Barnier

DW – August 21, 2020

The EU’s chief post-Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier was left ‘disappointed’ at the slow pace of the trade negotiations about the UK’s exit from the European Union, while his UK counterpart David Frost said the EU made talks “unnecessarily difficult.”

“Those who were hoping for negotiations to move swiftly forward this week will have been disappointed,” said Barnier. “Unfortunately, I too am frankly disappointed and concerned.”

“The clock is ticking,” he warned.

Trade discussions between the EU and UK began after Britain officially left the bloc in January.

Both sides are pushing to have a deal in place by the end of a post-Brexit transition period that ends on December 31. The EU said this requires an agreement by October – in two months’ time.

If no deal is struck by then, trading relationships between the two sides will have to use minimum standards set by the World Trade Organization that will see tariffs raised.

“No progress whatsoever” had been made on fisheries, said Barnier. Fair competition rules were also proving to be a sticking point.

“Too often this week it felt as if we were going backwards rather than forwards,” said Barnier.

https://www.dw.com