'Very Serious' Gaps Remain In Brecxit Deal Talks, Says EU's Barnier


11/06/2020



There were still "very serious divergences" between the European Union and the United Kingdom in trade talks related to Brexit, the EU's Brexit negotiator has said recently and has suggested that disruptions in commerce and trade with Britain was more acceptable to the bloc than diluting its key demands from the UK.
 
After having officially left the EU in January, the UK is currently in a transition phase which is set to expire on December 31and negotiations between the parties on bilateral trade worth a trillion dollars is in the last phase prior to the complete exit of the UK from the EU.  
 
"Despite EU efforts to find solutions, very serious divergences remain in level playing field, governance & fisheries. These are essential conditions for any economic partnership," Michel Barnier wrote on Twitter.
 
"The EU is prepared for all scenarios," Barnier added.
 
David Frost, Barnier’s UK counterpart agreed that "wide divergences remain on some core issues". "We continue to work to find solutions that fully respect UK sovereignty," he said on Twitter.
 
The tweets from the two chief negotiators came after the two parties failed to come to an agreement on a free trade agreement even after two weeks of intensified negotiations with the sticking points to an agreement still remaining the fixation of new fishing rights, ensuring a fair trading ground for companies and agreement on how to solve any trade disputes in the future.
 
Let along any timeline, no certainty that there will be a trade agreement between the EU and the UK a mid-November deadline was offered by Brussels during a closed-door briefing with 27 national envoys to the block, said reports quoting one of the participants of the meeting,
 
"He was rather uncertain about a deal," the senior diplomat was quoted in the media as saying with being names.
 
Only "mild progress" in the negotiations have so far been made and the consultation will be continued through video conferencing and then face-to-face in London next week, said reports quoting a senior EU official.
 
"The UK does not seem to be engaging sufficiently on key issues," another EU diplomat was quoted as saying . "Given this situation, a no-deal outcome can't be excluded."
 
The current economic conditions in the UK as well as the EU because of the novel coronavirus pandemic would get aggravated if there is a no deal Brexit and the UK departs the bloc without a deal to govern ties on anything from trade to energy to social security.
 
"The mood wasn't exuberant but it wasn't despondent either. We're not in the home straight but we are in the endgame," another senior EU diplomat was quoted by the media as reacting to Barnier's latest assessment.
 
(Source:www.usnews.com)