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Brexit Negotiators Call Political Backup as Patience Frays

EU’s Barnier Warns No Significant Progress Made in Brexit Talks

(Bloomberg) --

British and European Union negotiators called on their political leaders to break the deadlocked negotiations over the two sides’ future relationship amid signs patience is wearing thin.

Speaking after a fourth round of talks ended on Friday, the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, accused Britain of backtracking on promises it made when it left the bloc and said no significant progress had been made since the discussions began.

“I don’t think we can go on like this forever,” Barnier said at a briefing in Brussels. “These negotiations will need extra political momentum.”

That will put pressure on British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to reboot the process when they hold talks in little more than a week’s time. EU officials hope to persuade Johnson to signal a willingness to compromise, something officials in London have dismissed as wishful thinking.

The end of this month marks the deadline for the U.K. to ask to extend the negotiating period beyond the year-end, something Johnson has repeatedly ruled out doing. If the two sides fail to reach an agreement by the year-end, Britain will leave the bloc without a trade deal in place, leaving companies grappling with the return of tariffs and quotas.

Barnier predicted talks could now stretch on until October -- but a senior British negotiating official said that may be too late, and called for discussions to intensify into July, even if it is inconvenient for European governments grappling with the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. Either way, businesses and consumers face months more uncertainty over how the U.K. will trade with the bloc after the year-end.

Last Minute

“Such important agreements are always agreed at the last minute -- if there is agreement,” Barnier said. “In the course of the summer, the very beginning of autumn, we will find some common ground between the EU and U.K.” -- as long as Britain doesn’t backtrack on the commitments it made in the Brexit Political Declaration, he said.

The U.K. said Barnier was wrong to suggest the government was backtracking, because the pledges made in the Political Declaration don’t tie either side’s hands.

Not “everything in the declaration must go into a legally binding treaty” because it merely “establishes the scope of our discussions and of our future relationship,” Barnier’s British counterpart, David Frost, said after the Frenchman’s news conference.

Frost said that while progress had been limited, the negotiations were positive in tone.

Making Progress

“If we are to make progress, it is clear that we must intensify and accelerate our work,” he said. “We need to conclude this negotiation in good time to enable people and businesses to have certainty about the trading terms that will follow the end of the transition period at the end of this year.”

Both sides had hoped to make significant steps forward this week -- but were thwarted by deep disagreements on the most crucial issues: fishing rights, a level playing field for business, and the role of European judges in overseeing any deal.

The EU is seeking the same access it enjoys to British waters as it does today, while Downing Street is pushing for annual negotiations. The bloc is also pressing the U.K. to sign up to some of its rules to protect workers’ rights and environmental standards, a requirement Britain has rejected.

Despite the rhetoric, officials on both sides acknowledged that all isn’t lost and there is a route to a deal. Barnier’s frequent references to the Political Declaration, a looser set of principles than his official negotiating mandate, may be a sign that the EU negotiating chief would be willing to compromise -- if he gets backing from EU governments.

Compromise Possible?

He signaled that he might be prepared to compromise in two crucial areas: fishing and the level playing field. On the former, Barnier said the two sides would have to “discuss somewhere in between” their current positions, adding that “we are prepared to discuss what needs to be discussed.”

On the latter, he said that he had “taken account” of Britain’s reluctance to continue to be bound by the bloc’s state aid rules, one of the main requirements of the level playing field and a key demand of EU governments. The two sides will “work together in order to come up with the appropriate toolbox,” Barnier said.

The EU, though, rebuffed a British suggestion for a limited trade deal, one in which not all tariffs would be avoided, in return for more limited demands on the level playing field. A U.K. official said it shouldn’t be a binary choice between “zero quotas, zero tariffs” or no deal -- but the issue hasn’t been the subject of serious discussion.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.