In Brussels and London
This Sunday was to be the outcome of the Brexit saga.
Promised sworn, London and Brussels had to decide: either announce an agreement on future relations between the United Kingdom and the EU, or throw in the towel.
But Ursula von der Leyen and Boris Johnson, who spoke for about 20 minutes by phone, finally asked the negotiating teams to continue their discussions.
Work resumed Sunday afternoon.
"Despite the exhaustion after almost a year of negotiations, despite the fact that the deadlines have been exceeded many times, we believe that it is responsible at this stage to go further",
explained the President of the Commission and the British Prime Minister in a joint statement.
The Brexit soap opera therefore continues, without us knowing where all this can lead.
This time, “VDL” and “BoJo” were careful not to announce a new deadline.
“For the moment, we continue to discuss until Tuesday.
After that, we'll see, ”
admits
someone
close to the negotiations, refusing to say whether Wednesday will be the key day.
At least we know the unsurpassable date of December 31, marking the end of the transition period.
For the rest, the unknown remains.
“No one is able to say if there will be enough progress to get there.
Including the best informed people, ”
says a European diplomat.
Read also:
Brexit: Brussels' plan B
If Brussels and London have chosen to give each other one - last?
- luck, it is because progress has been made in recent days.
“We are not resuscitating a corpse,” we
told the Commission.
Both sides considered that there was enough movement to continue discussions. ”
This progress - scant at this stage - has been made on the difficult issue of fair competition rules.
And, more precisely on the mechanism that should be put in place in the event that one party should come to deviate from the regulatory standards of the other party, thus creating distortions of competition.
“There has been progress on the general architecture of this mechanism.
There are advances on the British side even if they are not yet precise enough, ”
argues a person close to the negotiations.
It's different to have an agreement and to manage a “no deal” for a few weeks than not to have an agreement and to manage a definitive “no deal”
A European source
On fishing, on the other hand, discussions continue to skate.
"There is always a deep disagreement",
continues this interlocutor.
In order to unblock things, the European negotiators would have tried to approach the
"management framework"
proposed by the British.
Insufficient at this stage.
Will two days of discussion be enough to remove all these obstacles?
Not sure.
Europeans know, however, that the clock is ticking dangerously.
“We are in an area where we can come to an agreement and not be able to implement it on December 31.
There is a period of “no deal” which is almost certain, ”
worries a European source.
"But,
" she adds
, "it's different to have an agreement and manage a 'no deal' for a few weeks than not to have an agreement and to manage a definitive 'no deal'."
Boris Johnson, him, continues the Scottish shower.
Even though he decided to prolong the talks, he considered that their failure was the
"most likely"
scenario
.
He is calm:
"No matter what happens, the UK will be very, very well".
The Prime Minister said he feared
"that we are still very far away on certain key points".
But
"where there is life, there is hope,"
added the one we have known more inspired in his quotes.
The whole question, once again, is to understand the real intentions of "BoJo".
Is he prolonging the discussions because he absolutely needs an agreement?
Or to show that he went to the limit of the possible and place the entire responsibility for failure on the EU?
"People expect us to make an extra effort,"
he said on Sunday, in words that leave interpretations free ...
An envelope of 10 billion pounds
One thing is certain, Johnson is under strong conflicting pressures.
On the one hand, the brexiters and the popular press are going wild to urge him not to let go.
If "French bashing" was fashionable in recent days, it was Germany which was the target of the
Mail on Sunday on Sunday
.
The newspaper violently attacked Angela Merkel, accused of wanting
"the United Kingdom to crawl on broken glass
".
On the other hand, the business community is calling for compromise.
"Carry on.
Make a deal, ”
tweeted Adam Marshall, Managing Director of the British Chambers of Commerce.
An agreement is both
"essential and possible",
said Tony Danker, head of the CBI, the British employers' association.
Read also:
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The government is speeding up preparations for a “no deal”.
According to the
Sunday Telegraph
, he is providing £ 10 billion in funding to help farmers, fishermen and industrialists if the worst happens.
A “no deal” exercise, dubbed “Operation Capstone” will be organized on Wednesday to test the response to border disruptions and illegal fishing in British waters.
With strange belligerent overtones, London has made it known that four Royal Navy ships stand ready to protect its fishing grounds from any incursion in the event of no deal.
The
Daily Mail
called to
"send gunboats"
to French fishermen ... Former soldier and chairman of the parliamentary committee on defense, Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood deplored an
"irresponsible"
gesticulation
.
"We are deploying our Navy, already overwhelmed, to face the fishing boats of a NATO ally,
" he said
.
Our enemies must rejoice… ”