EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier accused the UK of backtracking on a key agreement in post-Brexit trade talks today, as British officials revealed they have have abandoned plans to walk away from the negotiations by the end of the month.
Boris Johnson intimated in February that June would be the time for reflection’ on whether a deal with Brussels was possible befoe the transition period end in December.
But as talks between the two sides remained mired in deadlock today, the UK Government indicated it wanted talks to continue into July to allow an agreement to be reached.
Speaking in Brussels today, Mr Barnier claimed the UK team had continually sought ‘to distance themselves’ from the political declaration agreed by Boris Johnson.
On the key area of fisheries, he said the UK has ‘not shown any true will’ to explore compromises.
And he said both sides were still ‘very far’ from reaching agreement on the level playing field, nuclear safety and anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism funding.’
His British counterpart, David Frost, acknowledged that the talks, which were the final ones before a potentially make-or-break high-level summit later this month, had made ‘limited’ progress.
And a senior UK negotiating official added the two sides had a ‘slightly different interpretation’ of what the declaration meant.
‘We are committed to the political declaration. We see it as it describes itself as a document that set the parameters for our discussions. It isn’t in itself a treaty,’ the official said.
‘In my dictionary ”parameters” means limits – it doesn’t require everything in it to be agreed in treaty form.’
Speaking in Brussels today, Mr Barnier claimed the UK team had continually sought ‘to distance themselves’ from the political declaration agreed by Boris Johnson
His British counterpart, David Frost, acknowledged that the talks, which were the final ones before a potentially make-or-break high-level summit later this month, had made ‘limited’ progress
On the delay to the June deadline, he added: ‘Originally June looked like it would be the inflection point but things have obviously got in the way.
‘We are not up for a long negotiation over the next months well into the autumn where nobody knows what is going to happen. October is too late for us to conclude this.
‘We need to work intensively now and into July to see if we can find the high-level trade-offs that unlock a deal within all our important negotiating parameters.’
British exporters sending goods to EU states could face paying import tariffs under plans being considered by ministers to break an impasse in trade talks with Brussels.
A senior UK official said the offer had been made to EU counterparts in exchange for movement on their side on demands for ‘level playing field’ requirements on environmental and labour standards.
It came as both sides ended the fourth round of talks by admitting no real progress had yet been made.
The official said that if they were to move the process forward there would now need to be face-to-face discussions involving small groups of officials.
‘Some things are possible now that weren’t three months ago. If we are going to move this forward we are going to need face-to-face contacts and the ability to assess and understand better than we can do in this format,’ he said.
Mr Barnier said ‘the door is still open’ for the UK to seek an extension to the current transition period before the end of June to allow more time for discussions, but the Prime Minister has vowed not to extend this.
The EU’s negotiator told a Brussels press conference: ‘My responsibility is to speak the truth and to tell the truth this week there have been no significant areas of progress.’
On the key area of fisheries, he said the UK has ‘not shown any true will’ to explore compromises.
And he said both sides were still ‘very far’ from reaching agreement on the level playing field, nuclear safety and anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism funding.’
‘In all areas, the UK continues to backtrack under commitments undertaken in the political declaration, including on fisheries,’ Mr Barnier said.
‘We cannot and will not accept this backtracking on the political declaration.’
But he said he hopes by the beginning of autumn to find ‘some common ground’ for a future agreement.
In a statement, Mr Frost said: ‘Progress remains limited but our talks have been positive in tone. Negotiations will continue and we remain committed to a successful outcome.’
There is mounting concern among business – already hit hard by the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic – at the prospect of a ‘cliff edge’ break to the UK’s remaining access to the EU single market with no new deal to replace it.