British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have approved a further month of negotiations on the UK’s departure from the bloc 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, is to travel to London this week for talks with his British counterpart, David Frost, and the two sides would then hold follow-up talks in Brussels next week.
The fresh rounds were agreed after a telephone call on Saturday afternoon between Johnson and Von der Leyen.
Photo: AFP
EU sources said that 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 is to visit German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin today.
Merkel had said on Friday that the EU could 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 wrote on Twitter 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 that 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 the middle of this month, when the 27 EU heads of state and government are due to hold a summit on the matter.
Downing Street made no mention of a deadline this time.
During the call, it is understood Johnson emphasized 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 British government has stressed behind the scenes the importance of having clarity by the summit on Thursday next week on whether a deal is possible, given the need to prepare for a no-deal exit.
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