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Prime Minister Boris Johnson: "The Prime Minister stated that a deal is desirable"
Photo: James Warren / imago images / ZUMA Wire
In the dispute over a Brexit trade pact, the European Union wants to ignore a deadline set by Great Britain for an agreement and continue to negotiate intensively in the next few weeks.
This emerges from a draft of the final document for the EU summit on Thursday and Friday in Brussels.
The British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, however, remains open to break off the talks.
Johnson phoned EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and Council chairman Charles Michel on Wednesday evening and then had the following explanation: "The prime minister stated that a deal is desirable, but expressed his disappointment that no more progress had been made in the past two weeks . "
Johnson looks forward to hearing about the results of the planned EU summit and will consider the UK's next steps.
Johnson had threatened to withdraw from the negotiating table if no compromise was found with the EU by October 15 - that is, by this Thursday.
This is about a contract that will regulate economic relations after the Brexit transition phase from 2021 and thus avoid tariffs and trade barriers.
However, they are far from reaching an agreement.
"Not at any price"
Before the phone call with Michel and von der Leyen, Johnson had said that he would decide after the two-day summit whether Great Britain would continue to negotiate.
Progress has been made in the past few days.
But there are still differences, especially when it comes to fishing rights.
EU Council President Michel tweeted very briefly on Wednesday evening and wrote that they had spoken to Johnson.
"On the eve of the European Council, we again insisted on progress at the negotiating table."
Von der Leyen tweeted: "The EU is working on a deal, but not at any price."
The conditions should be right, in terms of fishing, the conditions of competition and the monitoring of the future agreement.
An EU official had previously stated that concessions from London were expected on these three points.
"We are at a critical point," he said.
The EU summit document prepared for Thursday stated that the European Council "notes with concern that progress has been inadequate on the issues that are most important to the Union".
The EU still wants an agreement.
Negotiator Michel Barnier was asked to "step up negotiations to ensure that an agreement can be applied from January 1, 2021".
Business associations call for agreement
The Federation of German Industry, together with business associations from France and Italy, once again called for an agreement.
"There is a realistic risk that there will be no deal," they warned in a joint statement.
At the EU summit, Chancellor Angela Merkel and her colleagues are also discussing the EU Commission's proposal for a new climate target.
According to this, the emission of greenhouse gases is to be reduced by at least 55 percent below the 1990 level by 2030.
Merkel supports this, but some countries such as Poland and the Czech Republic see a need for clarification.
No resolutions are planned yet.
The summit also addresses the EU's relations with Africa and various foreign policy crises.
Greece wants to bring up the gas dispute with Turkey again.
Ankara is advancing exploration that Greece and Cyprus consider illegal.
The EU heads of state and government had only agreed at their summit two weeks ago to threaten sanctions in the event of further provocations against Turkey.
This should be decided by December at the latest.
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jon / dpa