Brexit: EU-London talks to resume in the presence of Boris Johnson

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom at 10 Downing Street in London on May 28, 2020. REUTERS / Hannah Mckay

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Talks between the European Union and the United Kingdom to try to find a post-Brexit trade agreement are due to resume on Monday 1 June. Boris Johnson has announced that he will personally participate in discussions to try to find a trade agreement with Brussels, British negotiator David Frost told British MPs on Wednesday. 

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“The clock is ticking”, “the clock is ticking”, these three words in English, Michel Barnier never stopped repeating them last year already. The aim was to prevent the United Kingdom's unauthorized exit from the European Union.

With the divorce now in effect, the two parties are now trying to define their new relationships, particularly on the commercial front, and again, the clock is ticking and it is blocking. "  The UK has taken three steps back from the original commitments  ," said Michel Barnier, head of Brexit negotiations for the European Union, in a British daily newspaper on Sunday.

A possible extension of negotiations

But the Brussels proposal is, for its part, deemed unacceptable by London because it would be an agreement without customs duties or quota, in exchange for alignment with certain European standards and wide access to waters. British for European fishermen.

Extension of negotiations is considered possible. Michel Barnier said he was open to it. London can request it until June 30. Otherwise, there will be very little time, just a few months, to define the new relationship. A mission deemed impossible by some diplomats.

The Prime Minister will be more involved, but that does not mean that he was not involved ...

Georgina Wright, researcher at the Institute for government

Anissa El Jabri

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  • Brexit
  • United Kingdom
  • European Union
  • Boris Johnson

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