European Union chief negotiator Michel Barnier resumed talks in London with his British counterpart as the two sides try to strike a last-minute trade agreement less than 10 weeks before the United Kingdom leaves the bloc’s orbit. The United Kingdom left the EU in January but the two sides are trying to clinch a deal that would govern nearly a trillion dollars in annual trade before informal membership - known as the transition period - ends on Dec. 31.
There is very little time left to bridge significant gaps between Britain and the EU on sticking points in talks about a post-Brexit trade deal, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman said on Monday.
“There is also much work to be done if we’re going to bridge what are the significant gaps that remain between our positions in the most difficult areas and time is very short,” the spokesman said.
Downing Street had said the talks were “over”, but British officials welcomed Barnier’s move and said talks could resume if the EU accepted that both sides needed to compromise to reach a deal. Following a summit last week, EU leaders including Germany’s Angela Merkel and French president Emmanuel Macron publicly indicated a willingness to compromise, in effect giving the signal the UK is insisting on.
One senior British official said: “We are hoping that talks can begin again in the second half of this week.” Lord Frost tweeted after his “constructive” talks with Barnier: “The EU still needs to make a fundamental change in approach to the talks and make clear it has done so. We will stay in close touch.”
Downing Street said Barnier’s offer of intensified talks based on legal texts was “what would be expected at this stage in a negotiation”, but Michael Gove, Cabinet Office minister, also called it “constructive”. With less than three months to the end of the Brexit transition period on December 31, the UK has for weeks complained that the EU has been unwilling to thrash out the detailed legal language needed to unlock a deal.
