LONDON – The British government today said it still wants to reach a post-Brexit trade deal with the European Union, despite deadlocked talks.
The UK had imposed a deadline of last week’s EU summit for a deal, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was ready to walk away and prepare for a no-deal exit after five decades of EU membership.
However, Senior Minister Michael Gove today said he is still hopeful that there will be an agreement, telling TV interviews that the door remains “ajar” if the EU changes its position.
The two sides disagree on rules for fair competition, how these rules will be policed, and how much access EU fishing fleets will get to UK waters.
Britain wants to reassert sovereignty over its waters and have no EU legal oversight over the deal – insisting it wants a simple trade deal of the kind the EU signed with Canada.
But, the bloc said Britain’s situation is completely different.
“I want a deal, I’m keen to conclude one, but it takes both sides to compromise in order for there to be one. The EU is not doing so at the moment,” Gove told Sky News, adding that the EU does not seem serious in its desire to reach an agreement.
Chief European negotiator Michel Barnier and his British counterpart, David Frost, are due to discuss the structure of talks tomorrow, according to the European Commission.
“The ball is in his court,” Gove said of Barnier.
Failure to strike a deal will see Britain and Europe revert to World Trade Organisation terms, with higher tariffs and quotas, potentially devastating for economies already weakened by the Covid-19 pandemic. – AFP, October 18, 2020
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