Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Photo / AP
Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Photo / AP
Boris Johnson is preparing to make a significant intervention in the Brexit trade talks this week as negotiators begin the "final push" before a deadline in eight days' time.
The British Prime Minister is expected to speak to Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, in an attempt to clear away the final barriers to a deal which both sides now believe is well within reach. Agreements on fishing and state aid remain the two stumbling blocks, and European Union leaders have set a deadline of Tuesday next week for all remaining disagreements to be resolved.
Britain formally left the EU at the start of this year, but it was only the end of the first stage of the Brexit saga. Britain and the EU gave themselves an 11-month "transition period" — in which the UK continued to follow the bloc's rules — to strike new agreements on trade, security and a host of other areas.
A trade deal has the potential to save hundreds of thousands of jobs and not exacerbate the economic crisis brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
Ministers had hoped a final agreement in principle would already be in place by now, but the timetable was set back after Michel Barnier, Brussels' chief negotiator, was forced into Covid self-isolation, meaning face-to-face talks had to be paused.
One source close to the negotiations suggested the enforced break had been a blessing in disguise, because it gave the exhausted teams time to "pause and reflect" on how they could overcome the knotty problems standing in their path.
A woman holds up the Union and the European Union flags during an event called 'Brussels calling' to celebrate the friendship between Belgium and Britain at the Grand Place in Brussels. Photo / AP
Face-to-face talks are expected to restart on Thursday, giving the teams a maximum of six days to thrash out a deal before the deadline expires.
A source on the British side of the talks said: "Both sides seem to think we will get there, but nothing is certain and Boris Johnson will not water down his demands in order to get a deal."
The transition period that began after Britain formally left the EU will expire at midnight on December 31, leaving little time for lawyers to draw up the final text of a deal and the Parliaments of Britain and the 27 EU member states to ratify it.
While the British Parliament could be made to sit through the Christmas break to pass the necessary legislation, EU member states have made it clear they would not be prepared to do so. Reports of a special sitting in Brussels between Christmas and New Year to ratify a deal have been dismissed as fanciful.
EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier (centre) walks to a meeting in London to resume talks over post-Brexit trade agreements. Photo / AP
Yesterday Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, insisted there would not be a Brexit trade deal "at any price", adding that coronavirus would have a much bigger impact on the economy than a no-trade-deal Brexit.
He told the BBC's Andrew Marr: "I think we've been reasonably consistent and transparent throughout the process about our asks, which by the way are very simple.
"We just want pretty much the same treatment as most other countries that do trade deals with the EU get. So hopefully we can find a constructive place. But I'm very confident about the British economy in all circumstances."
He added: "I'd agree with what the Prime Minister has said, that in the short term specifically and most immediately it would be preferable to have a deal because it would ease things in the short term. But we should not be going for a deal at any price."
