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Brexit negotiations: the long wait for the agreement

2019-10-16T20:02:24.942Z


There are only a few hours until the EU summit - but there is still no Brexit Deal. In the process, the actors in Brussels and London spent the day outbreathing confidence.



At 9:37 in the morning, the Reuters news agency reported: The Brexit negotiations are ongoing. But the announcement of a new deal remained until Wednesday evening. A few hours before the meeting of EU leaders on Thursday, the negotiating teams in Brussels have still not reached an agreement. It is said at the EU summit on the possible new Brexit Treaty, ideally it should even be approved.

From Brussels and from the heads of government, different signals were received regarding the current state of negotiations. European negotiator Michel Barnier said the talks were "constructive", but "there are still a number of significant issues to resolve." Similarly, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who said at a Cabinet meeting in London that he thought that "a good agreement" was still possible, but that there were still questions.

Already in the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, the negotiating team had sat together for a long time, an agreement should have been in the meantime in prospect. But the talks were stopped, then resumed in the morning.

However, the negotiations seemed to be getting more complicated again, so a meeting of the EU ambassadors, where Barnier wanted to inform the Member States' representatives about the state of the Brexit negotiations, had to be postponed by two hours.

Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD / AFP

Negotiator Michel Barnier: Will he present an agreement on Thursday?

EU Council President Donald Tusk did not want to see that as a bad signal. "Theoretically, everything should be clear in seven to eight hours," he told the Polish channel TVN 24 in the afternoon. Chancellor Angela Merkel was optimistic on the sidelines of a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron. "The news we hear from Brussels could be worse," Merkel said. She believes in an agreement. Macron was also confident that the agreement could be approved at the EU summit on Thursday.

EU circles said in the evening that a new Brexit treaty between Britain and the EU was almost finished. However, he still needs to be approved by all parties involved. There was an agreement on a level playing field and customs duties. The Parliament in Northern Ireland must approve the regulations every four years. However, questions about VAT are still open.

The hopes for a deal on Wednesday but then fizzled within 45 minutes:

  • a BBC reporter tweeted first that she had learned from British government circles that it would not come to a deal at night

Just as Barnier arrives to see ambassadors, government source has just announced it will not be a deal tonight

- Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) October 16, 2019

  • Shortly afterwards, a journalist from the Sun also reported that there were unresolved issues between the EU and the Northern Irish party DUP
  • The triad then made the news agency Reuters perfect, which had received the same information from government circles

So how does it continue? According to Sun, the government said, "Everyone will work all night, but there will be no deal tonight." Accordingly, the negotiations could last the whole night until an agreement could be reached the morning before the EU summit.

Govt source says no Brexit deal tonight, because of unresolved issues with both the DUP and EU: "Everyone wants to work in the night but there will not be a deal this evening".

- Tom Newton Dunn (@tnewtondunn) October 16, 2019

If there is no agreement before the EU summit, EU leaders could also discuss the Brexit issue at a special summit before the end of October. In addition, in Brussels, for some EU representatives, a "technical extension" on Brexit is likely even for an agreement. For the time to ratify an agreement in parliaments by the end of October could already be too tight.

14 days left until the planned Brexit

Boris Johnson is keen to lead his country out of the EU on 31 October, if necessary without an agreement. However, in September, the UK Parliament had by law obliged Johnson to request a Brexit shift if there was no agreement with the EU on an agreement by 19 October. Even if the talks between London and Brussels are successful, the question remains whether Johnson actually gets the deal through the lower house. Brexit hardliners strongly oppose border controls between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom. (Read more about the quarrel about the so-called backstop here)

And Johnson has been threatened with new trouble since Wednesday night: Jolyon Maugham, a British lawyer, has already announced he will file a lawsuit against Johnson's Brexit plan because it violates tax law. For this he wants to submit a petition.

With a possible agreement on Thursday morning, shortly before the EU summit, the possible Brexit deal would not be over yet. It could be a long two weeks until October 31st.

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2019-10-16

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