EU's Barnier says 'very serious' gaps still in Brexit trade talks

[webfact]

EU's Barnier says 'very serious' gaps still in Brexit trade talks

By John Chalmers and Gabriela Baczynska

 

FILE PHOTO: European Union's Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier walks at Westminster in London, Britain October 28, 2020. REUTERS/Simon Dawson/File Photo

 

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union's Brexit negotiator said on Wednesday "very serious divergences" remained in trade talks with Britain and suggested the bloc would rather accept disruptions in commerce in eight weeks' time than yield on its key demands.

 

Britain left the EU in January and talks on salvaging a trillion dollars worth of annual free trade between the estranged allies are now in their final stretch before London's transition out of the bloc completes on Dec. 31.

 

"Despite EU efforts to find solutions, very serious divergences remain in level playing field, governance & fisheries. These are essential conditions for any economic partnership," Michel Barnier wrote on Twitter.

 

"The EU is prepared for all scenarios."

 

His UK counterpart, David Frost, agreed that "wide divergences remain on some core issues".

 

"We continue to work to find solutions that fully respect UK sovereignty," he said on Twitter.

 

The two spoke after two weeks of intensified negotiations failed to yield a breakthrough on the chronic sticking points: fixing new fishing rights, guaranteeing fair-play rules for companies, and agreeing ways to solve any future trade disputes.

 

During a closed-door briefing with 27 national envoys to EU hub Brussels on Wednesday, Barnier gave no timeline or even any certainty that a trade deal between the bloc and Britain would be clinched by a mid-November deadline, one participant said.

 

"He was rather uncertain about a deal," said the senior diplomat who spoke under condition of anonymity.

 

A senior EU official said there had only been "mild progress" in the negotiations, which will continue via video conferencing and then face-to-face in London next week.

 

"The UK does not seem to be engaging sufficiently on key issues," said another EU diplomat. "Given this situation, a no-deal outcome can't be excluded."

 

Should Britain and the EU part ways without a new pact to govern ties on anything from trade to energy to social security, the fallout would aggravate economic malaise on both sides induced by the coronavirus pandemic, now in its second wave.

 

Another senior EU diplomat told of Barnier's latest assessment, said: "The mood wasn't exuberant but it wasn't despondent either. We're not in the home straight but we are in the endgame."

 

(Reporting by John Chalmers, Jan Strupczewski, Gabriela Baczynska and Philip Blenkinsop in Brussels and William James in London, Writing by Gabriela Baczynska, Editing by Mark Heinrich)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-11-05

 

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[Rookiescot]

Easiest trade deal in history ????

[Bluespunk]

22 minutes ago, webfact said:

The European Union's Brexit negotiator said on Wednesday "very serious divergences" remained in trade talks with Britain and suggested the bloc would rather accept disruptions in commerce in eight weeks' time than yield on its key demands.

Let's face it, when dealing with ''u turn johnson'', why would anyone yield to him or his govt...

[JonnyF]

I'm very glad to see the UK is not caving in to their outlandish demands for continued control over our country.

 

The time has come to walk away from negotiations and start preparing for our future outside the corrupt, undemocratic, inflexible, protectionist racket that the EU has become.

 

We can trade with them on WTO terms until they drop this tired old woman scorned act. Trade with them the same way they trade with China, with whom they do around a Billion Euros a day.

 

So long EU, we'd love to say it's been a pleasure but frankly, it hasn't.

[vogie]

27 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

I'm very glad to see the UK is not caving in to their outlandish demands for continued control over our country.

 

The time has come to walk away from negotiations and start preparing for our future outside the corrupt, undemocratic, inflexible, protectionist racket that the EU has become.

 

We can trade with them on WTO terms until they drop this tired old woman scorned act. Trade with them the same way they trade with China, with whom they do around a Billion Euros a day.

 

So long EU, we'd love to say it's been a pleasure but frankly, it hasn't.

Very nice to read a well constructed post as all we have so far is a tired out slogan followed by an insult, you would have thought remainers could more effort into their posts.

 

But Barnier cannot accept that the UK has left the defective dictatorship of the federal EU and is nothing to do with free trade but to still wants to exert power over the UK rather than protecting the businesses in europe, he will be remembered all right, but for all the wrong things.

[welovesundaysatspace]

23 minutes ago, vogie said:

all we have so far is a tired out slogan followed by an insult

I think you actually started with the insult followed by the slogan; read your comment again:

 

Quote

the defective dictatorship of the federal EU and is nothing to do with free trade but to still wants to exert power over the UK

 

Edited November 5, 2020 by welovesundaysatspace

[Agusts]

Anybody ever thought Boris wanted to have a deal with EU is really naive...! The whole plan from the beginning was "no deal" with him and his cronies...

 

Those who think UK is better off with "no deal" relationship with EU are totally ignorant of so many things, it's too long to list here, but if they do want it they should have come clean from the start, even get a vote on it..., why pretend...! 

 

It maybe the only possible solution for a UK out of EU, with Irish border etc., but then let's plan for it, it probably takes years to organize borders and customs and prepare for businesses...., how is that possible in a few months...!!! It's a total mess...?

 

Boris should stop all this bullsh*** about talks and deals that they don't believe in and say from this date - with "enough"  time to prepare - we go WTO..., have some balls for a change Boris...

 

And if IRA started again, Boris and his buddies should again have balls and take responsibility..., why pussy footing around it, this is the reality, stop lying to deceive people..., unfortunately their supporters don't see through all this...

 

 

 

[david555]

Gap's only ??…."Titanic Size holes " would be better worded.....,???? can never become E.U. parliaments voted …,included many from the 27 member states , with the W.A rewritten one sided ...

 

Edited November 5, 2020 by david555

[Surelynot]

Who cares?.....Ivory Coast and Kenya in the bag.

[david555]

12 minutes ago, Surelynot said:

Who cares?.....Ivory Coast and Kenya in the bag.

And Zimbabwe  not yet …? or did they bargaining too much …? ????

[Mavideol]

UK very lucky to be dealing with Barnier, perfect gentleman, his tenacity dealing with brain dead UK government should be praised

[Agusts]

Who needs tomatoes from Spain...! We can buy from New Zealand, they can plant them on the ship when it leaves , then pick them fresh when arrives in UK...!!!? ????, It works, honest...

 

Oh, no , wait a minute, no Poles to do the picking here, damn, all will rot ....????????

 

[JusticeGB]

1 hour ago, Mavideol said:

UK very lucky to be dealing with Barnier, perfect gentleman, his tenacity dealing with brain dead UK government should be praised

Dealing with a two faced English hating Frog is good? What planet are you on? If Angela Merkel was doing the negotiating then Boris might come to his senses. 

[Proboscis]

4 hours ago, Rookiescot said:

Easiest trade deal in history ????

Yeah. Remember being told BEFORE the BREXIT vote that the UK could "take back control" while still remaining within the Single Market or the Custom's Union.

[JonnyF]

1 hour ago, Agusts said:

Who needs tomatoes from Spain...! We can buy from New Zealand, they can plant them on the ship when it leaves , then pick them fresh when arrives in UK...!!!? ????, It works, honest...

 

Oh, no , wait a minute, no Poles to do the picking here, damn, all will rot ....????????

 

 

Yes, because it's going to be absolutely impossible to buy tomatoes from Spain without an FTA isn't it ????. 

 

With all these countries around the world refusing to trade with each other unless an FTA is in place, it really makes you wonder how China and the EU do a Billion Euros of trade a day without a trade deal, doesn't it. There must be massive queues at all those Chinese ports, all that paperwork, checking every single box in every single container, it must be chaos ????.

[transam]

2 hours ago, Mavideol said:

UK very lucky to be dealing with Barnier, perfect gentleman, his tenacity dealing with brain dead UK government should be praised

If the UK gov. were brain dead, the deal would have been easy for the French bloke, would it not....?   ????

You really must get to grips with what's going on, sunbeam.....????

[luckyluke]

As far as I understand, both parties still want to talk. 

I come therefore to the conclusion that both parties consider a non-deal as a terrible outcome. 

[JonnyF]

13 minutes ago, Proboscis said:

Yeah. Remember being told BEFORE the BREXIT vote that the UK could "take back control" while still remaining within the Single Market or the Custom's Union.

 

Oh dear. Another one that wasn't paying attention.

 

 

 

[Rookiescot]

9 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

 

Oh dear. Another one that wasn't paying attention.

 

 

 

Was Cameron part of Vote Leave?

Remainers listened to Cameron and voted accordingly.

Brexiteers chose to ignore or not believe Cameron.

 

 

[dunroaming]

6 minutes ago, luckyluke said:

As far as I understand, both parties still want to talk. 

I come therefore to the conclusion that both parties consider a non-deal as a terrible outcome. 

I think Boris is hiding again at the moment (when it comes to the Brexit negotiations),  missing the deadline to buy time to see just which way the US election goes and what cards he still has, if any.  He wouldn't condemn Trump yesterday so must still think he has a chance of winning.  Same response from Raab and Fox, both evading all the questions put to them.

[luckyluke]

I am rather perplexed.

I read here regularly posts referring to what, one or a another politician said, and considering that as a truth. 

Now I suppose that young, inexperienced, full of optimism, are still convinced that a politician is a trustworthy person. 

Therefore I not understand that, being convinced that the posters here are not rookies, still refer to a politician (whatever tendency he may be) talks as a reference. 

[JonnyF]

4 minutes ago, Rookiescot said:

Was Cameron part of Vote Leave?

Remainers listened to Cameron and voted accordingly.

Brexiteers chose to ignore or not believe Cameron.

 

 

 

No, Cameron wanted to Remain. I'm surprised you didn't know that but I'm always happy to help with pertinent information when asked politely. FYI he was the Prime Minister who spent millions sending leaflets to the country trying to convince them to Remain. That didn't work out too well for him, obviously.

 

I listened to Cameron's arguments. When he confirmed that Brexit meant leaving the Single Market I was very happy to hear that. Out means Out as far as I am concerned. No freedom of movement, no CFP, no single market, no customs union, no ECJ, no level playing field, no more transfer of wealth to the basket case southern 'states', no more rule taking. Marvelous.

[dunroaming]

7 minutes ago, luckyluke said:

I am rather perplexed.

I read here regularly posts referring to what, one or a another politician said, and considering that as a truth. 

Now I suppose that young, inexperienced, full of optimism, are still convinced that a politician is a trustworthy person. 

Therefore I not understand that, being convinced that the posters here are not rookies, still refer to a politician (whatever tendency he may be) talks as a reference. 

 

It is hard to see how the words "politician" and "truth" can be used in the same sentence, along with "morals" and ethics".  When it comes to our politicians in government I fear we really are at the very bottom of the barrel.

[Rookiescot]

2 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

 

No, Cameron wanted to Remain. I'm surprised you didn't know that but I'm always happy to help with pertinent information when asked politely. FYI he was the Prime Minister who spent millions sending leaflets to the country trying to convince them to Remain. That didn't work out too well for him, obviously.

 

I listened to Cameron's arguments. When he confirmed that Brexit meant leaving the Single Market I was very happy to hear that. Out means Out as far as I am concerned. No freedom of movement, no CFP, no single market, no customs union, no ECJ, no level playing field, no more transfer of wealth to the basket case southern 'states', no more rule taking. Marvelous.

So Cameron was telling the truth and vote leave were lying. 

If out means out (Brexit means Brexit ????) why is Johnson still negotiating? 

[luckyluke]

3 minutes ago, dunroaming said:

 

It is hard to see how the words "politician" and "truth" can be used in the same sentence, along with "morals" and ethics".  When it comes to our politicians in government I fear we really are at the very bottom of the barrel.

Not sure what you mean with "our politicians". For me they are all the same, whatever what nationality or/and tendency. 

For instance, I am Belgian, but I would never trust what Mr. Verhofstadt would tell. 

Despite a very well furnished political career. 

To have some kind of balance, I don't trust Mr. Farage either. 

[dunroaming]

1 minute ago, luckyluke said:

Not sure what you mean with "our politicians". For me they are all the same, whatever what nationality or/and tendency. 

For instance, I am Belgian, but I would never trust what Mr. Verhofstadt would tell. 

Despite a very well furnished political career. 

To have some kind of balance, I don't trust Mr. Farage either. 

 

I am sure that some would say that me saying "our politicians" is a gross generalisation.  But I can only refer to the politicians in the UK as I have no real knowledge of others.  And even then only the ones that we see or hear from.

[JonnyF]

17 minutes ago, Rookiescot said:

So Cameron was telling the truth and vote leave were lying. 

If out means out (Brexit means Brexit ????) why is Johnson still negotiating? 

 

He's negotiating for a FTA. You don't need to be in the EU to have an FTA with them. 

 

Happy to help again ????.

[dunroaming]

1 minute ago, dunroaming said:

 

I am sure that some would say that me saying "our politicians" is a gross generalisation.  But I can only refer to the politicians in the UK as I have no real knowledge of others.  And even then only the ones that we see or hear from.

As for Nigel Farage, he isn't a politician as he has never been elected to office, although he has failed a few times trying.  Just a opportunist conman really.

[Rookiescot]

2 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

 

He's negotiating for a FTA. You don't need to be in the EU to have an FTA with them. 

 

Happy to help again ????.

Nope.

Trade agreements can still include quotas and tariffs. Thats not what Johnson wants. He wants unrestricted access to the single market. 

[JonnyF]

3 minutes ago, Rookiescot said:

Nope.

Trade agreements can still include quotas and tariffs. Thats not what Johnson wants. He wants unrestricted access to the single market. 

 

Nope. Of course Johnson would accept some quotas and tariffs on certain goods. That's normal for an FTA.

 

What he doesn't want is continued deference to the ECJ, unfettered access to UK fishing waters for UK vessels, level playing field etc. He's 100% right to refuse that, it's completely unreasonable for the EU to expect us to agree to that.