Johnson and Von der Leyen extend Brexit talks by a month
UK and EU leaders instruct chief negotiators to work
harder to close gaps on deal
Daniel
Boffey in Brussels
Sat 3 Oct
2020 16.12 BST
Boris
Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen have approved a further month of Brexit
negotiations after agreeing that enough progress has been made to justify a
last push to reach a deal on trade and security.
The EU’s
chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, will travel to London this week for talks
with his British counterpart, David Frost, and the two sides will then hold
follow-up talks in Brussels the week after.
The fresh
rounds were agreed after a phone call on Saturday afternoon between the British
prime minister and European commission president. EU sources said the
conversation was “not a game-changer” but not “unhelpful”, with both sides
showing resolve to find “landing zones” on the most difficult areas.
Before the
new rounds of negotiation, Barnier will visit the German chancellor, Angela
Merkel, in Berlin on Monday. Merkel had suggested on Friday that the EU would
show fresh flexibility.
In a joint
statement following their call, Johnson and Von der Leyen said they had
identified reasons for hope that common ground on the most contentious issues
could be found. They called on their teams to intensify negotiations in the
coming weeks.
“They agreed
on the importance of finding an agreement, if at all possible, as a strong
basis for a strategic EU-UK relationship in future,” the statement said. “They
endorsed the assessment of both chief negotiators that progress had been made
in recent weeks but that significant gaps remained, notably but not only in the
areas of fisheries, the level playing field and governance. They instructed
their chief negotiators to work intensively in order to try to bridge those
gaps.”
Downing
Street’s hopes of moving into a so-called “tunnel” negotiation – an intensive
negotiation away from the scrutiny of the media and domestic politicians – have
not been satisfied. “It instructs me and [Michel Barnier] to work intensively
in order to try to bridge the gaps between us. That work begins as soon as we
can next week,” Frost tweeted of the joint statement.
In a sign
that negotiations have moved into the political realm, with decisions required
by both sides at the top ranks on their respective levels of flexibility, Von
der Leyen and Johnson said they would now talk on “a regular basis on this
issue”.
Their last
meeting was in June, when Johnson said it was time to put a “tiger in the tank”
of the negotiations, insisting that a deal was possible by the end of the
summer.
He later
moved his deadline to mid-October, when the 27 EU heads of state and government
are due to hold a Brexit summit. Downing Street made no mention of a deadline
this time.
During the
call, it is understood Johnson emphasised that he would prefer the kind of
arrangement the EU agreed with Canada, and he repeated his willingness to leave
the transition period without a deal.
It is
understood that while it is open to talks later in October, the government has
stressed behind the scenes the importance of having clarity by the summit on 15
October on whether a deal is possible, given the need to prepare for a no-deal
exit.
Barnier
told members of the European parliament on Friday that he believed the last two
weeks of October would prove to be the “crunch period”, with the hope that a
deal might be ready for ratification at the start of November.
The two
sides are stuck on the issues of access to British waters for European fishing
fleets and the level playing field provisions being pushed by Brussels to
ensure that neither side can undercut standards or unfairly subsidise
businesses through state aid.
Before last
week’s talks, five new draft negotiating documents were submitted by the
government, including legal texts on fisheries, the level playing field, law
enforcement and judicial cooperation, civil nuclear cooperation and social
security coordination.
Britain had
offered a three-year transition period for European fishing fleets, allowing
them to prepare for the post-Brexit changes, as part of an 11th-hour deal
sweetener. The catches of EU fleets would be “phased down” between 2021 and
2024 to offer time for the European industry to adapt to the changes, but the
French government has so far refused to countenance the major changes to
catches being proposed by London.
On state
aid, EU sources said the UK had offered to lay out a series of principles on
controlling domestic subsidies. But the paper failed to offer appropriate
“governance” proposals that would allow Brussels to hold the UK to its pledges,
they added.
On Friday,
Frost said there had been progress on state aid but that the gap between the
two sides on fisheries remained wide and that without a move by Brussels a deal
would not be possible.
It is understood that message was again relayed by Johnson to Von der Leyen during their conference call o
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