While the European Union said on Friday that there were only hours left to arrive at a Brexit trade deal, the United Kingdom urged the EU to see sense.
The two sides are trying to strike a free trade agreement before Britain crashes out of the EU on January 1. An agreement on trade will prevent a turbulent finale to the Brexit crisis and secure safe trade for goods worth about $1 trillion.
Compromises on various issues are being demanded of the other side by both even as a tirade of often conflicting messages emerge from the negotiations about the deal being possible or the deal has derailed a deal is imminent.
UK doors were open but it was the responsibility of the EU to see sense and come to a compromise solution Johnson said a few hours after the EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier informed London that there were just hours left for them to carve out a narrow path towards a deal.
“It’s the moment of truth,” Barnier told the European Parliament in Brussels. “There is a chance of getting an agreement but the path to such an agreement is very narrow.”
While stating that the UK will continue talks with the EU, Johnson said that there would also be no compromise by London on its intention of taking back control of its laws and its fishing waters – which, according to him, are the fundamental points why the UK left the Eu in the first place.
“Our door is open, we’ll keep talking but I have to say things are looking difficult,” Johnson told reporters. “We hope that our EU friends will see sense and come to the table with something themselves - because that’s really where we are.”
After the 2016 referendum to formally leave the bloc, Britain is set to formally leave the EU on January 1 next year after the completion of a transition period wherein the UK still enjoyed the facilities of remaining in the EU and with the rules on trade, travel and business remaining unchanged.
A trade pact between the two parties would ensure minimum barriers to trading in goods that make up half of the annual EU-UK commerce valued at almost a trillion dollars.
While it is the view of some EU diplomats that the rhetoric is indicative of the deal being worked out in Brussels, Britain has cautioned that it could be as long as after Christmas that a deal, if any, could be struck.
The so-called level playing field and fishing are the two issues that the two parties have not come to an agreement on and are holding up the deal, Britain says, while also repeatedly saying that EU needs to compromise on the issues of else there will be a no-deal Brexit.
“We have very little time remaining, just a few hours to work through these negotiations in a useful fashion if we want this agreement to enter into force on the first of January,” Barnier said.
(Source:www.reuters.com)
The two sides are trying to strike a free trade agreement before Britain crashes out of the EU on January 1. An agreement on trade will prevent a turbulent finale to the Brexit crisis and secure safe trade for goods worth about $1 trillion.
Compromises on various issues are being demanded of the other side by both even as a tirade of often conflicting messages emerge from the negotiations about the deal being possible or the deal has derailed a deal is imminent.
UK doors were open but it was the responsibility of the EU to see sense and come to a compromise solution Johnson said a few hours after the EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier informed London that there were just hours left for them to carve out a narrow path towards a deal.
“It’s the moment of truth,” Barnier told the European Parliament in Brussels. “There is a chance of getting an agreement but the path to such an agreement is very narrow.”
While stating that the UK will continue talks with the EU, Johnson said that there would also be no compromise by London on its intention of taking back control of its laws and its fishing waters – which, according to him, are the fundamental points why the UK left the Eu in the first place.
“Our door is open, we’ll keep talking but I have to say things are looking difficult,” Johnson told reporters. “We hope that our EU friends will see sense and come to the table with something themselves - because that’s really where we are.”
After the 2016 referendum to formally leave the bloc, Britain is set to formally leave the EU on January 1 next year after the completion of a transition period wherein the UK still enjoyed the facilities of remaining in the EU and with the rules on trade, travel and business remaining unchanged.
A trade pact between the two parties would ensure minimum barriers to trading in goods that make up half of the annual EU-UK commerce valued at almost a trillion dollars.
While it is the view of some EU diplomats that the rhetoric is indicative of the deal being worked out in Brussels, Britain has cautioned that it could be as long as after Christmas that a deal, if any, could be struck.
The so-called level playing field and fishing are the two issues that the two parties have not come to an agreement on and are holding up the deal, Britain says, while also repeatedly saying that EU needs to compromise on the issues of else there will be a no-deal Brexit.
“We have very little time remaining, just a few hours to work through these negotiations in a useful fashion if we want this agreement to enter into force on the first of January,” Barnier said.
(Source:www.reuters.com)
