Another unsuccessful interview.
The United Kingdom warned Thursday evening, after a meeting between Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen, that a failure of its post-Brexit trade talks with the European Union remained "very likely" without concession important in Brussels.
“We hailed significant progress on many topics.
However, major differences remain, in particular on fishing.
Filling them will be very difficult.
The negotiations will continue tomorrow ”, confirmed the head of the European executive on Twitter.
With @BorisJohnson we took stock of the EU-UK negotiations.
We welcomed substantial progress on many issues.
Yet big differences remain to be bridged, in particular on fisheries.
Bridging them will be very challenging.
Negotiations will continue tomorrow.
pic.twitter.com/ou5NUibZ3e
- Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) December 17, 2020
The game of lying poker seems endless.
European negotiator Michel Barnier had estimated at midday in front of MEPs that an agreement was possible as of Friday, while adding that it would be "difficult", a compromise on the access of European fishermen to British waters seeming for the moment blocked.
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Taxes, travel, visas… what would a “no deal” change for the French?
Echoing the French, a source close to the German Foreign Ministry had also referred to “signs of movement” on the British side.
Without a trade agreement, trade between the EU and London will take place from 1 January 2021 under the sole rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO), synonymous with customs duties or quotas, with serious consequences for economies already shaken by the pandemic.
Sunday as deadline for the European Parliament
Faced with this uncertainty, European states have prepared emergency measures to maintain air traffic and road transport for six months with the United Kingdom, subject to reciprocity.
The European Parliament has already approved temporary measures Thursday to maintain traffic in the Channel Tunnel, between France and England.
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At the end of a meeting Thursday morning with Michel Barnier, the leaders of the political groups in the European Parliament warned that if they did not receive the text of an agreement by “Sunday midnight”, they could not ratify it in time for it to enter into force on January 1, 2021, when the UK - which officially left the EU on January 31 - will abandon the single market for good.