Brexit, what still blocks: fishing, competition and dispute settlement
David Frost and Michel Barnier have not published the content of their meeting, but nothing tangible apparently came out of the discussions of the two chief negotiators.
The talks remain "very difficult".
Oliver Hoslet / Pool via REUTERS
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
Pessimism reigns supreme from London to Brussels over a possible post-Brexit deal, as day dawns on what could be the last day of negotiations.
Ursula von der Leyen and Boris Johnson have decided to keep the negotiations alive until Sunday, December 13, when a "final decision" will have to be taken.
Chief negotiators David Frost and Michel Barnier met face-to-face on Saturday in Brussels, but the same three topics are still blocking: fishing, fair competition and the settlement of different futures.
Publicity
Read more
At the European summit on Thursday evening, the 27 heads of state and government of the European Union barely raised the issue of Brexit for ten minutes, perhaps a sign of their certainty of failure on Sunday, December 13. , wrote
our correspondent in Brussels
,
Pierre Benazet
.
The story is the same in London and the European Commission.
The echoes of the negotiations do not bode well that would allow to resuscitate the hope of a post-brexit agreement.
David Frost and Michel Barnier have not published the content of their meeting, but nothing tangible apparently came out of the discussions of the two chief negotiators.
The official message from delegations is that the talks remain "
very difficult
".
Britons and Europeans remain mired in a situation where no one wants to run the political risk of being accused of having derailed a deal.
In this context, the mobilization by the Royal Navy, already announced for more than a year, of the high seas patrol vessels Mersey and Tyne to monitor British waters, sounds like a reminder of the cod war between Iceland and the United Kingdom half a century ago.
The very type of tensions that a lack of agreement could generate.
An impossible compromise
Boris Johnson
and Ursula von der Leyen have been trying for days to unblock deadlocked talks at the political level.
During a dinner in Brussels on Wednesday evening, they could only note again “
very distant
” positions.
However, they had given themselves another chance: three more days of negotiations to wrest an agreement, before a "
firm decision
" on Sunday.
They have since competed in pessimism, Boris Johnson considering failure “
very, very likely
”, while Ursula von der Leyen judging
agreement hopes
“
weak
”.
Pragmatic, the Commission on Thursday published
emergency measures
to maintain, in the event of a "
no deal
", air and road transport between the United Kingdom and the EU for six months, as well as reciprocal access to fishing waters for one year.
These measures were demanded by the Member States, which for months forced themselves to remain united behind their negotiator, Michel Barnier.
According to a senior European official, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel even, for this reason, each refused to meet with Boris Johnson last Monday.
Despite ever more intensive exchanges, compromise seems impossible between the British who want to regain total commercial freedom and Europeans anxious to protect their huge market.
The only certainty is that the United Kingdom, which officially left the EU on January 31, will definitively abandon the single market and the customs union on December 31.
►
To listen: The no-deal Brexit is becoming more and more a reality
(
A
vec
AFP
)
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Brexit
European Union
United Kingdom
Boris Johnson
On the same subject
European accents
Brexit: concerns of English and European companies in the face of uncertainty