FILE PHOTO: EU Chief Negotiator Michel Barnier at a meeting of European Union Governments Ambassadors (COREPER) in Brussels, Belgium, on December 14, 2020. REUTERS / Yves Herman / Pool reuters_tickers
–
–This content was published on December 14, 2020 – 09:32
14 December 2020 – 09:32
By Christian Levaux and Bart Biesemans
LONDON, Dec 14 (Reuters) – European Union Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said on Monday that it was still possible to seal a new trade pact with the United Kingdom, as the two sides seek to break deadlocks on matters such as access. to UK fishing waters for EU vessels and fair competition regulations for businesses.
Britain and the EU agreed on Sunday to go “an extra mile” in the coming days to try to strike an elusive trade deal, despite missing the last of the deadlines and aiming to avoid a turbulent exit late of month.
“We are going to give every opportunity to this agreement … which is still possible,” Barnier told reporters upon arrival in Brussels to update envoys from the 27 EU countries on talks with the UK. “A good and balanced agreement.”
“Two conditions are not yet met. Free and fair competition … and an agreement that guarantees reciprocal access to markets and waters. And it is at these points that we have not found the right balance with the British. So we continue working, “Barnier added.
In London, British Business Secretary Alok Sharma said the parties remained estranged in Brexit trade talks, but noted that Prime Minister Boris Johnson still wants to continue negotiating.
“We will continue to discuss, we are of course distanced on certain issues but as the prime minister said, we do not want to leave these talks,” Sharma told Sky television. “People are waiting, companies are expecting us to go the extra mile in the UK and that is precisely what we are doing.”
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen gave negotiators until Sunday to find a way to resolve the impasse in the agreements that would guarantee the United Kingdom access without tariffs or quotas to the EU single market.
On Sunday they ordered negotiators to continue speaking, although Johnson sounded pessimistic about the prospects for a breakthrough.
“Any agreement we get with the EU has to respect the fact that we are a sovereign country, an independent country and that is the basis on which we will make a deal if there is an agreement to be made,” said Sharma.
(Information from Guy Faulconbridge and Kate Holton in London; Gabriela Baczynska, Kate Abnett and Johnny Cotton in Brussels; translated by Jose Elías Rodríguez)
–
