Brexit Talks Given Fresh Impetus by High-Stakes Diplomatic Push

Brexit Talks Given Fresh Impetus by High-Stakes Diplomatic Push

The topsy-turvy trade talks between the U.K. and the European Union took another somersault on Sunday when Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen opted to ignore a self-imposed deadline and give negotiators another shot at closing a deal.

After the British prime minister and the European Commission president agreed in a phone conversation on Sunday to go the “extra mile,” officials involved in the process said an agreement could finally be struck this week, with just days to spare before the U.K. leaves the EU single market and customs union.

Forty-eight hours of intense diplomacy injected fresh momentum into a process that had seemed to be reaching the end of the road last week. One person close to the negotiations said a disastrous dinner between Johnson and the commission chief on Wednesday had forced negotiators to confront the possibility of failure and persuaded them to revisit ideas that had previously been dismissed. From there, the outlines of a potential deal started to come into focus.

A new U.K. proposal floated with the EU over the weekend on the biggest outstanding disagreement — how to create a level competitive playing field for businesses on either side of the Channel — might just break the deadlock, according to three people with knowledge of the discussions. If that works, the U.K. could win concessions on the other main sticking point: EU fishing rights in British waters.

‘There’s Hope’

“Where there’s life, there’s hope,” Johnson said following Sunday’s call, though he swerved a question over whether there had been progress in recent days. Officials on both sides cautioned, though, that there is still a long way to go and warned that similar moments of optimism in the past had failed to yield an accord.

The negotiations have already smashed through several deadlines as both sides waited for the other to blink, meaning even this week can’t necessarily be seen as definitive. But time is now almost up: the U.K.’s Brexit transition period expires on Dec. 31 with or without an agreement and parliaments on both sides need time to ratify any deal before then.

Officials, some of whom worked 100 hours over the past week, will resume talks in Brussels on Monday morning, while away from the negotiating table diplomacy is also stepping up a gear.

Von der Leyen was scheduled to discuss the state of play with French President Emmanuel Macron, the most hard-line of EU leaders, on Sunday in Paris. The EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, will brief ambassadors of the bloc’s 27 countries in Brussels on Monday. Over the weekend, top officials, including Barnier, the U.K.’s chief negotiator, David Frost, and von der Leyen’s aide Stephanie Riso held private discussions to try to break the impasse.

Negotiating Tactic?

With a deal hanging in the balance, officials cautioned against reading too much into public statements in the next few days because some of the pessimism was being used as a negotiating tactic. Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said that Johnson, in particular, is under pressure to show he’s taking talks down to wire.

“Managing domestic political considerations, divisions within his own party, sending strong signals to the EU that the U.K. isn’t going to offer too much flexibility at the last minute to get a deal” are all part of process, Coveney told RTE. “All of those things you would expect in public, but the real issue here is the conversations between the two negotiating teams.”

The potential compromise revolves around the steps the EU could take if, in the future, the U.K. didn’t toughen its environmental and labor rules to keep then in line with those of the bloc. The EU insists this is a necessary condition of access to its single market to prevent the U.K. giving its companies an advantage over their European competitors.

The EU has softened its earlier position where it demanded the right to take unilateral and automatic action to impose trade penalties if the U.K. didn’t follow EU standards. It now accepts that an adjustment would come only after arbitration and dispute resolution, according to two officials.

In a sign that a solution may be on the horizon, the U.K. has hinted it is ready to accept this kind of penalty as long as it retains the sovereign right to legislate as it sees fit. Discussions would then focus on the scope of any retaliation.

A breakthrough on that could mean negotiations in the final days focus on quota numbers for EU fishermen in British waters. If talks ultimately get narrowed down to that, a deal should be achievable, an official said.

___

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

A+
a-
  • Boris Johnson
  • Brexit
  • European Union
  • United Kingdom
  • Ursula von der Leyen
  • In The News

    Health

    Voting

    Foreign Affairs

    May 8, 2025
    by Tom Ramstack
    Trump’s Foreign Aid Revisions Find Skeptics at House Hearing

    WASHINGTON — Trump administration plans for an 85% cut to the State Department’s diplomacy and development programs drew tough scrutiny... Read More

    WASHINGTON — Trump administration plans for an 85% cut to the State Department’s diplomacy and development programs drew tough scrutiny from a congressional committee Thursday. President Donald Trump and his Republican supporters say the U.S. foreign aid budget cannot be justified while the nation confronts a... Read More

    Trump Meets With French President Macron as Uncertainty Grows About US Ties to Europe and Ukraine

    WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump welcomed French President Emmanuel Macron to the White House for talks on Monday at a moment of deep... Read More

    WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump welcomed French President Emmanuel Macron to the White House for talks on Monday at a moment of deep uncertainty about the future of transatlantic relations, with Trump transforming American foreign policy and effectively tuning out European leadership as he looks to quickly end Russia’s war... Read More

    February 5, 2025
    by Dan McCue
    Trump Says US Should Take Over Gaza, Turn It Into ‘Riviera of Middle East’

    WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Tuesday night that the United States should take “ownership” of Gaza, turning it into... Read More

    WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Tuesday night that the United States should take “ownership” of Gaza, turning it into “the Riviera of the Middle East” after its population of 1.8 million Palestinians is moved to other countries in the region. “The only reason the Palestinians... Read More

    Trump Names Former Sen. David Perdue of Georgia to Be Ambassador to China

    WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump said Thursday he has selected former Sen. David Perdue of Georgia to serve as his ambassador... Read More

    WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump said Thursday he has selected former Sen. David Perdue of Georgia to serve as his ambassador to China, leaning on a former business executive turned politician to serve as the administration's envoy to America's most potent economic and military adversary. Trump said... Read More

    Newly Elected French Lawmakers Enter Into Talks to See Who Can Form Next Government

    PARIS (AP) — Newly elected lawmakers arrived Tuesday at the National Assembly, France's lower house of parliament, for talks seeking... Read More

    PARIS (AP) — Newly elected lawmakers arrived Tuesday at the National Assembly, France's lower house of parliament, for talks seeking to cobble together a government majority after a chaotic election result left the legislature split among left, center and far-right parties. President Emmanuel Macron on Monday asked his prime minister,... Read More

    At Paris Gathering, Western Leaders to Show Unity for Ukraine and Signal 'Russia Cannot Win'

    PARIS (AP) — More than 20 European heads of state and government and other Western officials are gathering in a... Read More

    PARIS (AP) — More than 20 European heads of state and government and other Western officials are gathering in a show of unity for Ukraine, signaling to Russia that their support for Kyiv isn't wavering as the full-scale invasion grinds into a third year. French President Emmanuel Macron,... Read More

    News From The Well
    scroll top