EU warns London that it will not accept a Brexit pact at any cost

EU leaders warned the United Kingdom on Thursday that they are willing to continue negotiating an agreement that will avoid an abrupt economic breakdown on January 1, 2021, but with clear red lines.

"We want an agreement, but not at any price," said the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, before the start of the summit of EU heads of state and government.

In the same terms, the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, has expressed herself, who has demanded a "fair agreement" that "serves both parties."

French President Emmanuel Macron has emphasized the achievement of "a good fisheries agreement" and has warned that the EU is "prepared" for a scenario of rupture without an agreement.

The Brexit negotiations have entered a phase of drama again.

The Twenty-seven meet on the day that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson set himself the deadline for reaching an agreement on the future relationship between the two blocks.

Brussels, too, believed at the turn of the summer that beyond October 15 there was little chance of reaching a pact.

However, the EU partners choose not to break up the negotiation, understanding that there is still room for an agreement.

But that would imply a gesture from Johnson, especially after the deterioration of trust between the two parties brought about by the internal market law, which Brussels considers violates the provisions on Northern Ireland of the Withdrawal Agreement.

There are three major issues that still separate the UK from the EU: setting conditions on competition policy to avoid unfair competition from a trading power that is barely 34 kilometers from Europe, fishing quotas and seeking a system of governance and Dispute resolution.

Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin called for a "sensible" and "fair" fishing deal to protect his country's fishing communities.

Despite the fact that both parties are negotiating against the clock again, community sources believe that the European could resolve the ratification of an eventual agreement in just one month.

However, these sources also recall that the validation of the Withdrawal Agreement was not complicated in Brussels, but in the House of Commons.

Details of the negotiations

After the covid-19 pandemic has practically monopolized the summits, the leaders of the EU will speak for the first time in months in depth of the negotiations on Brexit.

The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the head of the European Council, Charles Michel, will be able to give an account of the content of their telephone conversations this Wednesday with Johnson, while the EU negotiator, Michel Barnier, will lower more to the details of the negotiations.

Before the meeting, the employers of Germany, France and Italy urged an agreement and warned of the consequences of the failure in economic growth and employment.

Still, France sent a clear message to the United Kingdom ahead of the summit with a meeting between the Secretary of State for European Affairs, Clement Beaune, and the French fishermen.

"Objective: to defend and protect the interests of fishermen," said Beaune through his Twitter account.

Diplomatic sources predict that EU leaders will give Barnier the green light to continue negotiating to reach an agreement with the United Kingdom, but warning that Johnson must take a first step that shows that he wants to dialogue in "good faith".