UK still uncompromising in post-Brexit negotiations

David Frost, the British negotiator, and Michel Barnier, the European negotiator.

(archives) -

The United Kingdom will not become "a vassal state" of the European Union regardless of the post-Brexit trade agreement reached with the 27, said British negotiator David Frost on Saturday.

He told the

in one of his rare interviews, as negotiations with the EU, which are stagnant, near their conclusion.

Ahead of an 8th and final round of talks with the EU next week, David Frost stressed that the UK was "not going to make concessions on the fundamental principle of having control over its own laws".

"We are not going to accept clauses that would give them control over our currency, or our way of organizing things here in the UK, and that should not be controversial," he added. .

"This is what it means to be an independent country, this is what the British people voted for and this is what will happen at the end of the year no matter what," he said. .

The UK formally left the EU on January 31, almost four years after a landmark referendum marking the end of almost fifty years of membership in the European Union.

London ready for a "no deal"

But it remains governed by European regulations until the end of the year, while the two sides try to define the terms of their future relationship.

Negotiations are slipping on several points, as time is running out on both sides to reach an agreement, as this agreement and the legal texts will have to be validated by the member states and ratified by the European Parliament.

This blockade heightened the fear of a no-deal Brexit after December 31.

However, Frost clarified that Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his ministers were not "afraid" of such a scenario.

“If we come up with an agreement that regulates trade like the one we have with Canada, great.

If we can't do it, it will be like with Australia, and we're totally ready for it, ”he said.

In the absence of an agreement before December 31, the only rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO), with their high customs duties and their extensive customs controls, would apply to trade relations between the partners.

What weakens economies already hit hard by the pandemic.

Politics

The attitude of London is "uncompromising and unrealistic", considers Jean-Yves Le Drian

World

The UK wants to stockpile drugs to prepare for a 'no deal' Brexit

• World

• Michel barnier

• EU

• Negotiation

• Brexit

• United Kingdom