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LAST UPDATE | 18 Dec 2020
EU CHIEF NEGOTIATOR Michel Barnier has warned there are “just a few hours” left to strike a post-Brexit trade deal with the UK as talks resumed today.
Barnier said that there is a chance of getting a deal in time for the end of the transition period on 31 December, but said that the path to a breakthrough is “very narrow”.
His warning came after Boris Johnson told European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen that the EU must “significantly” shift its stance on fishing for an agreement.
Today, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said “very significant difficulties” remain in the Brexit trade deal talks between the EU and UK, particularly in relation to fisheries.
His analysis came as leaders north and south of the Irish border voiced support for a trade deal.
The issue was discussed at Friday’s virtual meeting of the North South Ministerial Council.
Martin said: “If we get a substantive future relationship agreement between the UK and the EU that would make life much, much easier for all of us and particularly would give certainty and clarity to businesses and for workers north and south.”
The Taoiseach said a deal would present opportunities for everyone on the island of Ireland.
“Above all, it would give certainty and clarity to businesses on the island of Ireland, for workers on the island of Ireland in terms of their future and without question a deal would reduce very significantly any damage and disruption that would clearly arise from a no deal,” he added.
Stormont First Minister Arlene Foster said: “We all agree that the best way forward is to have an agreement on the future relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union.
“I think that’s very important. That is the one point of unanimity on Brexit I would say, but it’s something that I think you can take as very clear.”
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said: “We’re all agreed that a free trade agreement between the UK and EU is to our advantage and is in the interests of business and workers and farmers and fishermen north and south.
“So we will be using any influence we have to try to secure that agreement over the next couple of days.”
Varadkar warned port queues at Holyhead were likely due to stockpiling.
However, the Tanaiste warned that delays were likely on ferry travel between Ireland and Britain regardless of whether a UK/EU trade deal is struck or not.
“I think it’s likely that any delays at the ports that are happening at the moment are related to stockpiling, a lot of businesses are going to want to fill their warehouses in advance of there being a deal or no deal as the case may be when it comes to Brexit,” he told a press conference after Friday’s meeting of the North South Ministerial Council.
Earlier today
The EU set the latest deadline that an agreement must be ready by Sunday night in order to have enough time for MEPs to ratify it, while the House of Commons has been warned it may need to to hastily return from Christmas recess to vote on a deal.
“It’s the moment of truth,” Barnier told the European Parliament in Brussels.
“We have very little time remaining, just a few hours, to work through these negotiations in useful fashion if we want this agreement to enter into force on 1 January.
“There is a chance of getting an agreement but the path to such an agreement is very narrow.”
He said he was being “frank with you and open and sincere” when he said that he was unable to say what the result will be from the “last home straight of negotiations”.
Johnson and von der Leyen took stock of negotiations in a call yesterday evening.
The EU chief acknowledged “big differences” remained between the two sides and stressed that “bridging them will be very challenging”.
Johnson tweeted after the call to say he told von der Leyen that “time is short and the EU position needed to change substantially”.
Downing Street said the British Prime Minister warned it looked “very likely” a deal would not be agreed unless the bloc shifted its stance.
Agreement was getting closer on the “level playing field” to ensure neither side could unfairly compete by eroding environmental standards, workers’ rights or state subsidies, but fishing policy remained a major sticking point.
Johnson warned that the UK “could not accept a situation” where it was unable to control access to its waters and would have fishing quotas that “hugely disadvantaged its own industry”, according to a No 10 spokeswoman.
“The EU’s position in this area was simply not reasonable and if there was to be an agreement it needed to shift significantly,” she added.
Barnier’s counterpart at No 10, David Frost, warned that progress “seems blocked” ahead of talks resuming in Brussels.
“The situation in our talks with the EU is very serious tonight. Progress seems blocked and time is running out,” he tweeted yesterday.
Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove, who has been in charge of the Government’s no-deal planning, said on Thursday that the chances of an agreement remained “less than 50%”.
He told the Commons Brexit committee the “most likely outcome” was that the transition period would end on 31 December without a deal.
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Isn’t that what we were told about last sunday. Getting tired of it all at this stage
@Dangling Damo: there is a lot at stake. But poor you anyway.
@Dangling Damo: the difference is that this time the deadline hasn’t been set by either the UK or the EU negotiators, but by the European parliament.
@David Van-Standen: thanks for the clarification. But you can only hear things so many tines and it becomes white noise
@Paul Furey: irrespective of the deadlines or the importance of the deal it becomes background noise with doom and gloom from one day to the next and people are burned out with no relief in sight. 4 years of negotiations and suddenly 2 weeks before the changes are due to take effect the European parliment impose a deadline. I wonder if they will impose a price freeze to st3oo consumers getting gouged for goods on new years day that are already in warehouses
@Dangling Damo: goodbye farewell I’d like to say———
One cannot honestly expect the EU to accept a deal where the UK would have more advantages being out of the EU than those that are left in the EU.
If the UK are happy with the WTO rules let them take them up and that is that.
Uk says….Control over our waters…no other country would not have full control over their seas….That is true for countries who are not in a Free Trade customs block. If you are in a Free Trade block (like Uk wants w/ Eu) member states have rules/agreements. Uk as usual comparing apples with oranges. Otherwise be truly sovereign/independent block Eu fishermen but no free trade with the Eu member states (whose fishermen you are ousting from Uk water under threat of the Royal Navy.
@Damian Moylan: What are you going on about? Its about a FTA between the EU and the UK nothing to do with a customs union. Mexico, Singapore, South Korea and Vietnam all have a FTA with the EU but they are not in a customs union with the EU and the EU has no fishing rights in their waters. Your making things up or your fallen for other peoples lies. FTAs are about goods and services. Do you think it would be ok for British farmers to go to France and pick a few thousand tons of grapes to sell in the UK?
Ffs – let them go already.
Any deal at this stage is likely to be flawed.
Sweet tapdancing Jesus, enough already.
A Deal with the UK was never on the cards …Let us all be straight about that….
The sex toy trade is worth more to the British economy than fish.
@TheHeathen: sex toys are actually made from 90 percent fish ..which in turn are actually made from the roots of an orange tree.
@TheHeathen: It’s history as a thalassocracy that once ruled the waves mean control of territorial waters is symbolically important to them.
It’s likely that there will be no fish left in the ocean by 2050.
@Aidan Ryan: Lol, brilliant!
Countries in the Eu have free trade because they compromise, like on fishing. Why should France or Ireland be banned from fishing in uk waters if their companies have unfettered access, tariff free to the Eu Single Market? It must be a benefit to be an Eu Member State not a disadvantage. And, this is the crux of the matter.
@Damian Moylan: The UK exports very little that will be effected by tariffs, tariffs on cars are more than offset by the drop in the value of Sterling.
Off they go, the amount of time, energy, focus, money spent on getting this far over the past 4 years will be as much as the economic impact to the EU in 2021. The UK will be back to the negotiating table by February with their tail between their legs.
@Larry Fitzwell: If the uk leave on WTO they wont be back in Febuary or anytime soon . But if it makes you feel good about yourself Job done .
….and ‘Mehole’ is a significant difficulty……he’s really hopeless…..
This makes things more interesting ;-) Top U.S. Trade Negotiator Bullish on Last-Minute U.K. Trade Deal
All hands on deck lads. We’re heading into really stormy weather in 2 weeks’ time – hopefully we’ll get the boat through it…..
Is he talking about his own Party
Get Brexit done now pleeeeeeaase
have your say