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BREXIT NEGOTIATIONS ARE set to resume between the UK and EU tomorrow after they were paused last night over the divergences in the agreements sought by the two sides.
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke on the phone today to discuss how to move forward with trade talks.
In a joint statement this evening, Von der Leyen and Johnson said that “in a phone call today on the ongoing negotiations between the European Union and the United Kingdom, we welcome the fact that progress has been achieved in many areas”.
“Nevertheless, significant differences remain on three critical issues: the level playing field, governance and fisheries,” the two leaders said.
“Both sides underline that no agreement is feasible if these issues are not resolved.
“Whilst recognising the seriousness of these differences, we agreed that a further effort would be undertaken by our negotiating teams to assess whether they can be resolved.
We are therefore instructing our chief negotiators to reconvene tomorrow in Brussels and we will speak again on Monday evening.”
Von der Leyen and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke today after talks were paused last night when negotiators for the EU and UK said that the conditions for reaching an agreement had not been met.
Following the outcome of the call between the two leaders, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said: “I welcome the fact that negotiators will resume their discussions on an EU and UK trade deal in Brussels tomorrow”.
“An agreement is in everyone’s best interests,” Martin said.
“Every effort should be made to reach a deal,” he said.
Micheál Martin / Twitter
Micheál Martin / Twitter / Twitter
Michel Barnier, the European Commission’s head of negotiations with the UK, and David Frost, the EU adviser to the prime minister, said last night that there were “significant divergences” between the two sides.
In a joint statement, Barnier and Frost said that they agreed to pause the talks in order to brief their Principals on the state of play of the negotiations”.
Barnier has issued a brief response this evening following the Von der Leyen and Johnson’s decision to ask negotiators to resume talks.
We will see if there is a way forward. Work continues tomorrow.
The three key issues which remain to be solved between the negotiating teams – fishing, governance, and the level playing field – have been the focus on post-Brexit talks in recent days.
The issue of the “level playing field” relates to aims to prevent unfair competition on state subsidies and standards, while on fishing rights, the UK is seeking to assert control of its waters in a post-Brexit era.
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The EU knows the BJ is unable to make decisions and is all show and flutter. The EU negotiators are tearing their brexit counterparts apart. Maybe the brexit negotiators will have got it right by the time they get to sign off a trade deal with Chad.
@Paul Furey: your full of information I take it you were listening in on the phone call
@Paul Furey: None of us commenting here are privy to what’s actually happening at these talks or who’s tearing who apart or ‘tearing them a new one’. There’s a huge difference between fact and wishful thinking…
@The Alchemist’s Head: apart from BJ never taking a decision and the brexit negotiation team being screwed each time the last 2 to 3 years.
@Paul Furey: Stop your fretting Paul. The EU know the sacrifice the Irish people made to save the Euro….the debt passed to our children, the division of society due to QE and the decimation of our health system…they have our backs and will make sure the Irish people get their heavenly reward. Have faith Paul. We had faith in the Church to distinguish us from the Prods and the Brits. Just have faith now in the high priests of the EU and all will be well…you’re feeling sleepy now, sleepy now…
@Dan Jacobson: you’re changing the subject….but hey carry on with your rambling.
Just let them go. They are and never have been anything to Europe apart from their bragart beer swilling chavs
Maybe Cork County Council could name a place after Barnier. I mean, it would be more appropriate than Victoria Cross, Wellington Bridge or Princes/Marlborough/Cook streets.
@Virus-free Turkey: ‘Michel Street’ does not have the same ring to it though, pronouncing a French name in a Cork accent, Michel Street boy!!
Brexit means Brexit, let them go and see how the UK is going in a few months, and if the want to chat with the EU terms and conditions will apply.
Eu countries are asking themselves well to get access to the large Eu market we are required to stick to mutually agreed common rules, that’s how a common market works. So, why should the non-Eu Uk be given an exemption to those rules?
Miraculously it will all be sorted out. Just like that.
They talked for an hour. Presumably they agreed to give their underlings instructions.
This feels a bit like stage management
@Lesidees:
The EU will never abandon UK’s 66% now in favour of Remaining. That’s why Mr Barnier will continue with the negotiations ‘till the bitter end and will never be the one to say ‘the end’, or F this for a game of cowboys!
That 2016 Referendum was Gerrymandered, paid for by dark money still not fully identified as to its source, and ably facilitated by the Press Barons taking an anti-EU stance for decades.
The Tories not granting a Confirmatory Referendum says it all. They’ll get their way by hook of by cr o o k!
@Rory J Leonard: I should dress in tinfoil if I was you! the EU is going to let us hang with their stupid demands of the UK that they don’t make with any other state & will come to our aid if we play ball with corporation tax because the French want our high value tech jobs for Paris!
@Joe Thorpe: As a non-EU country the Uk cannot demand access to a market of 450mln people. EU countries play by certain rules to make it possible to have a single market. Those rules apply to any country wishing access.
Can we as in the EU man the fak up and go into no deal reality. Customs will be the norm so tariffs while will hurt agri bad in short term we as a country need to be nimble and adapt.
What do they talk about in negotiations hour after hour day after day week after week month after month when it all boils down to fishing rights and the level playing field all the time.
Ffs. Its bad enough the UK has fupped up the last 4 years for themselves, but they’ve had the EU doing s.f.a. apart from pandering to them for 4 years as well. The EU has lost 4 years of working for its own citizens, and its time to get back to that and get on with it. A last minute deal to pacify the UK would be damaging to the EUs reputation externally, but also create a situation within the EU where political unrest and pressure from within will be emboldened by any move to avoid losing the UK. The template will have been set, and created the environment for blackmail from within “or else”…..
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