Brexit: difficult negotiation, but Johnson opens up to the EU on the borders of Northern Ireland

• Brexit.

  Frost in Brussels for "last attempt": "we will work hard"

• Brexit, no agreement: negotiations on pause.

  Now it's up to von der Leyen-Johnson

• Brexit: there is no agreement, we continue to negotiate

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07 December 2020

Boris Johnson's olive branch and positive signs from post-Brexit negotiations according to SkyNews.

The British government has in fact promised in Brussels - during talks between Minister Michael Gove and Commissioner Sefcovic that took place before a telephone call between Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen - to withdraw the most controversial part of the Internal Market Bill: the bill with which London claimed to be able to unilaterally modify some divorce agreements already signed on the borders of Northern Ireland.

This part will be removed thanks to "good progress" made during today's negotiations, Gove said.

The premises of today's negotiation were not at all good, at least according to what was reported by the Sunh, which this morning reported a Johnson ready to leave the negotiations "within hours".

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson would be ready to exit post-Brexit negotiations within hours after EU requests, British tabloid Sun writes. 

The British premier will reject the "outrageous" EU requests of the last few hours, wrote the British tabloid, according to which Johnson was close to announcing the No Deal, or a clear break with Brussels.

And he has a speech to the nation as early as tomorrow night.     

"Today he will tell the EU that he does not want to leave the table but will not bow to requests from France over time" writes The Sun. "but his office has made it known that the prime minister will close the negotiations if the EU refuses to withdraw. his 'outrageous' demands ".

The open questions

The latest post-Brexit talks of the weekend, conducted both at the political level with Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen, and at the technical level, suggest that the two sides still speak different languages ​​regarding the last hurdles to overcome.

On the one hand, the British premier does not want to give in on any detail that could affect the sovereignty of the island.

On the other hand, the Commission, under pressure from the Member States, does not want to expose its companies to a scenario of unfair competition in its single market.

Thus the main knots remain in place.

Starting with the access of European fishing vessels in British waters.

Countries like France and Denmark are pushing for no restrictions but London doesn't want to know.

There is also no agreement on the 'level playing field', that is the system of rules to guarantee a level playing field for companies on both sides.

Brussels expects London to comply with EU standards on environmental protection and workers' rights.

It is also not yet clear which third party legal body will resolve future disputes.