UK, EU leaders to meet face-to-face to try to seal Brexit trade deal

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UK, EU leaders to meet face-to-face to try to seal Brexit trade deal

By Gabriela Baczynska, John Chalmers and Elizabeth Piper

 

FIEL PHOTO: Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson meets European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in London, Britain January 8, 2020. REUTERS/Toby Melville

 

BRUSSELS/LONDON (Reuters) - British and EU leaders will meet face-to-face to try to seal a post-Brexit trade deal after failing again to narrow their differences on Monday, increasing the chance of a disorderly parting of ways at the end of the month.

 

With just over three weeks before Britain completes its journey out of the bloc, a senior UK government source said there was "every chance we are not going to get there" and EU officials said, if anything, negotiations had gone backwards.

 

Since Britain left the European Union in January, the two sides have been stuck over three issues, raising the prospect of what many businesses say is their nightmare scenario - no agreement to govern around $1 trillion in annual trade.

 

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will travel to Brussels to meet European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the timing of which has yet to be confirmed, in what some say will be a last roll of the dice to secure a trade deal.

 

But he is not expected to time his trip to coincide with an EU summit on Thursday and Friday.

 

Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said negotiators face a Wednesday deadline, ahead of the summit, to prevent a "no-deal" scenario when the UK leaves the EU's orbit on Dec. 31, which would hit both sides' economies and compound the pain of the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Leaders of the 27 EU member states have agreed to step up contingency planning for the effects of a "no deal" on their economies when they meet for the summit.

 

"The conditions for an agreement are not there due to remaining differences on critical issues," von der Leyen and Johnson said in a joint statement after their call, which followed an equally fruitless conversation on Saturday.

 

"We asked our chief negotiators to prepare an overview of the remaining differences to be discussed in person in the coming days," they said. The EU Commission spokesman said Johnson would travel to Brussels for the meeting.

 

Brexit talks resume Monday in Brussels, and with time running out a deal still looks far from certain. Julian Satterthwaite reports.

 

A senior UK government source described talks as being "in the same position now as they were on Friday. We have made no tangible progress".

 

"It's clear this must now continue politically. Whilst we do not consider this process to be closed, things are looking very tricky and there's every chance we are not going to get there," the source said.

 

POUND TUMBLES

The British pound tumbled, showing how investors are losing confidence that a deal will be reached.

 

Britain, which joined the EU in 1973, formally left the bloc on Jan. 31 but has been in a transition period since then under which rules on trade, travel and business remain unchanged.

 

For weeks, the two sides have been haggling over fishing rights in British waters, ensuring fair competition for companies and ways to solve future disputes. Both have called on each other to compromise to get a deal over the line.

 

Failure to secure an agreement would clog borders, upset financial markets and disrupt delicate supply chains across Europe and beyond as the world tries to cope with the vast economic cost of the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

With just days left to reach an agreement and get it approved, most EU and UK sources agreed it was now time for the political leaders to step in and make the decision on whether to shift their positions enough to allow for a breakthrough.

 

In an olive branch to the EU, Britain said it could remove clauses in legislation that would breach its Brexit deal, signed just months ago with the EU, and would review provisions in another bill if talks on the Withdrawal Agreement progress.

 

Britain admits the clauses breach international law but says they are an essential safety net that would ensure the integrity of the United Kingdom.

 

(Additional reporting by William James, Costas Pitas, Michael Holden, Kate Holton, Sujata Rao-Coverley, Paul Sandle and Sarah Young in London, and Conor Humphries in Dublin, Writing by Guy Faulconbridge and John Chalmers, Editing by Timothy Heritage, William Maclean and Nick Macfie)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-12-08

 

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[OneMoreFarang]

I feel for all those negotiators and their teams. They work since years to work out a deal and then there are deadlines, more deadlines, final deadlines and really final deadlines and now probably last minute deadlines. Whatever the leaders discuss now could have been discussed at least weeks, probably months ago.

And if the leaders find an agreement then there is even more work in the last days of the year.

What a mess!

[TopDeadSenter]

2 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I feel for all those negotiators and their teams. They work since years to work out a deal and then there are deadlines, more deadlines, final deadlines and really final deadlines and now probably last minute deadlines. Whatever the leaders discuss now could have been discussed at least weeks, probably months ago.

And if the leaders find an agreement then there is even more work in the last days of the year.

What a mess!

Totally agree, It has been the worst attempt to subvert democracy in modern times. Americans are upset after just a couple of weeks of uncertainty. The British public voted to Brexit and for the last 5 YEARS the establishment left have done anything and everything to ignore the will of the people after the "once in a lifetime, the will of the people will decide" referendum.

 

 For the record, the correct time for Brexit to have been completed was 24 hours after the referendum back in 2016. The last 5 years of elites interfering with democracy has caused a breakdown of trust in government. Abolishing the house of Lords is an almost certain repercussion of their treachery. Good riddance. 

[Hi from France]

a summary of present state of the negotiations and why they are stuck again

 

 

Edited December 7, 2020 by Hi from France

[OneMoreFarang]

11 minutes ago, TopDeadSenter said:

The British public voted to Brexit and for the last 5 YEARS the establishment left have done anything and everything to ignore the will of the people

Good luck that the establishment right always worked for the people - or maybe not?

[nauseus]

As soon as I saw "pound tumbles" I stopped reading this BS.

[TopDeadSenter]

13 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Good luck that the establishment right always worked for the people - or maybe not?

I'm not sure there is such a thing any more. The establishment being "right" ended at the close of the glorious Thatcher years. All PMs that followed were globalist shills. These days establishmentarians are predominantly left leaning globalists. Boris and the rest of the so called conservatives could care less about what us plebs voted for, which is why 5 years they are still trying to weasel out of giving Britain it's freedom back.

[mrfill]

37 minutes ago, TopDeadSenter said:

Totally agree, It has been the worst attempt to subvert democracy in modern times. Americans are upset after just a couple of weeks of uncertainty. The British public voted to Brexit and for the last 5 YEARS the establishment left have done anything and everything to ignore the will of the people after the "once in a lifetime, the will of the people will decide" referendum.

 

 For the record, the correct time for Brexit to have been completed was 24 hours after the referendum back in 2016. The last 5 years of elites interfering with democracy has caused a breakdown of trust in government. Abolishing the house of Lords is an almost certain repercussion of their treachery. Good riddance. 

And the British completed Brexit on 31st January 2020, so what are you rambling about? Its over, done finished.

Regarding the proposed trade deal currently being negotiated, this is, as its name suggests, a trade deal, which often take years to complete. No one voted for anything to do with the trade deal. And how would you treat the abolition of the Upper Chamber in the US? Reasonable or a subversion of democracy? Or does the answer depend on who has the power? 

[Rookiescot]

But they need us more than we need them. We hold all the cards. German car manufactures. Easiest trade deal in history.

Why has the EU not capitulated to our cake and eat it demands?

[robblok]

40 minutes ago, nauseus said:

As soon as I saw "pound tumbles" I stopped reading this BS.

Yes facts hurt, maybe you should look at the US and pound chart. The pound is dropping. Why is it that Brexiteers are so blind to any bad news. You don't see the Euro dropping because of this but the pound does. So where will the impact be greatest.

 

https://www.poundsterlingforecast.com/2020/12/pound-sterling-exchange-rates-drop-as-no-deal-brexit-chances-heighten/

Edited December 8, 2020 by robblok

[luckyluke]

43 minutes ago, nauseus said:

As soon as I saw "pound tumbles" I stopped reading this BS.

I can understand.

If I read the "Euro tumbles", my day is bad enough to continue to read why.

 

[robblok]

8 minutes ago, Rookiescot said:

But they need us more than we need them. We hold all the cards. German car manufactures. Easiest trade deal in history.

Why has the EU not capitulated to our cake and eat it demands?

Because Brexiteers believe BJ and his lies. Thing is they don't believe mainstream news. Because there has not been ANY good news about brexit at all. But the Brexiteers keep acting like its the best thing since sliced bread.

 

Must be fun living in an alternate reality. 

[luckyluke]

6 minutes ago, robblok said:

Because there has not been ANY good news about brexit at all.

 

That Brexit is a good thing on its own, is something many are convinced of.

 

One can read many negative news about the future of Brexit.

 

Depending how one approach the situation,  one will label it as "project fear" or "unhappy reality to expect".

 

It is however a fact that I never read good news about Brexit outcome, from financial institutions, employers, and other institutions,

and thus not been able to been labelled as

"project confidence" or "happy reality to expect".

 

 

 

[nauseus]

23 minutes ago, robblok said:

Yes facts hurt, maybe you should look at the US and pound chart. The pound is dropping. Why is it that Brexiteers are so blind to any bad news. You don't see the Euro dropping because of this but the pound does. So where will the impact be greatest.

 

https://www.poundsterlingforecast.com/2020/12/pound-sterling-exchange-rates-drop-as-no-deal-brexit-chances-heighten/

 

I did. That's why the use of the old 'tumbling' favourite was so hilarious. Trading within recent ranges - no 'tumbling' - from TradingView.com just now.

 

 

If there is no deal there will be a tumble in the Pound - no doubt and I've always said that.

 

But in a year or two we'll see which one really tumbles, long-term.

[robblok]

2 minutes ago, luckyluke said:

 

That Brexit is a good thing on its own, is something many are convinced of.

 

One can read many negative news about the future of Brexit.

 

Depending how one approach the situation,  one will label it as "project fear" or "unhappy reality to expect".

 

It is however a fact that I never read good news about Brexit outcome, from financial institutions, employers, and other institutions,

and thus not been able to been labelled as

"project confidence" or "happy reality to expect".

 

 

 

Economically Brexit makes no sense. Its time the supporters see and acknowledge that Brexit is damaging the economy and jobs are lost. The people who know best and studied for it all agree. Just that the supporters of Brexit cant accept this.

 

All that for the FEELING of taking back control.

[mrfill]

3 minutes ago, robblok said:

Economically Brexit makes no sense. Its time the supporters see and acknowledge that Brexit is damaging the economy and jobs are lost. The people who know best and studied for it all agree. Just that the supporters of Brexit cant accept this.

 

All that for the FEELING of taking back control.

Thank heavens for covid so they can blame that for any problems in the next 50 years..

[nauseus]

2 minutes ago, robblok said:

Economically Brexit makes no sense. Its time the supporters see and acknowledge that Brexit is damaging the economy and jobs are lost. The people who know best and studied for it all agree. Just that the supporters of Brexit cant accept this.

 

All that for the FEELING of taking back control.

 

I accept it. But the reason for Brexit is not primarily economic. Just that the remainers can't accept this.

[robblok]

1 minute ago, nauseus said:

 

I did. That's why the use of the old 'tumbling' favourite was so hilarious. Trading within recent ranges - no 'tumbling' - from TradingView.com just now.

 

 

If there is no deal there will be a tumble in the Pound - no doubt and I've always said that.

 

But in a year or two we'll see which one really tumbles, long-term.

Maybe you and i read the grap different but the pound is going down.  TUMBLE might be an overstatement but the news brought the pound down.

 

Good that you accept that a no deal will bring the pound down at least that is a fact.

 

I have no idea long term but i doubt leaving the trade block is good for the economy. So its a safe bet that even an increase wont make up for all the damage.

[luckyluke]

9 minutes ago, nauseus said:

But in a year or two we'll see which one really tumbles, long-term.

I hear/read since "forever" that the Baht will tumble.

[nauseus]

11 minutes ago, luckyluke said:

I hear/read since "forever" that the Baht will tumble.

 

Ah. A different story and harder to forecast. Truth is that all paper goes rotten eventually. 

[robblok]

21 minutes ago, mrfill said:

Thank heavens for covid so they can blame that for any problems in the next 50 years..

Indeed its a good thing they can blame covid. Though its 100% true covid does damage too. 

 

Will be almost impossible to calculate what did what and nobody will agree anyway as it is not an exact thing to calculate.

[vogie]

19 minutes ago, robblok said:

Economically Brexit makes no sense. Its time the supporters see and acknowledge that Brexit is damaging the economy and jobs are lost. The people who know best and studied for it all agree. Just that the supporters of Brexit cant accept this.

 

All that for the FEELING of taking back control.

The decision that was voted for in 2016 was a democratic decision and thus had to be enacted, the problems started to arise when the duplicitous remainers tried to overturn this decision. So basically the fault doesn't lay with the people that voted, it lays with the MPs that didn't vote, they had ample opportunity to vote for some kind of deal that the incompetent Mrs May had conjured up, but they refused thinking that there was going to be a chance to overturn the said democratic decision, they gambled and they lost, if they had voted there is a good chance that the UK would still be tied to the EU, they made their bed and as uncomfortable it may be for them, they are have to learn to live with it. We are here at this juncture because of the remainers and nobody else, and now they have to take full responsibility.

[luckyluke]

12 minutes ago, nauseus said:

Truth is that all paper goes rotten eventually. 

We are also not here to stay.

[robblok]

2 minutes ago, vogie said:

The decision that was voted for in 2016 was a democratic decision and thus had to be enacted, the problems started to arise when the duplicitous remainers tried to overturn this decision. So basically the fault doesn't lay with the people that voted, it lays with the MPs that didn't vote, they had ample opportunity to vote for some kind of deal that the incompetent Mrs May had conjured up, but they refused thinking that there was going to be a chance to overturn the said democratic decision, they gambled and they lost, if they had voted there is a good chance that the UK would still be tied to the EU, they made their bed and as uncomfortable it may be for them, they are have to learn to live with it. We are here at this juncture because of the remainers and nobody else, and now they have to take full responsibility.

Not sure how this has anything to do with the bad economic fallout. This is just something you wrote to shift the blame. The only ones to blame are those who voted to leave and their leaders. 

 

The wise people who cared about economics and trade voted to remain. The nationalists who thought this would stop immigration and so on are the ones to blame. Nobody else.

[vogie]

Just now, robblok said:

Not sure how this has anything to do with the bad economic fallout. This is just something you wrote to shift the blame. The only ones to blame are those who voted to leave and their leaders. 

 

The wise people who cared about economics and trade voted to remain. The nationalists who thought this would stop immigration and so on are the ones to blame. Nobody else.

So to round up what you said. You do not believe in democracy, you believe that people that don't vote should share no responsibility and finally you insert the word "nationalist" in for good measure. At least you're consistant.

[Kwasaki]

2 hours ago, nauseus said:

As soon as I saw "pound tumbles" I stopped reading this BS.

Yeah most media overestimate as usual. 

From FT today :-

The pound has climbed 0.64% to $1.3011 against the dollar today and 0.38% to €1.1958 against the euro.

[Susco]

58 minutes ago, nauseus said:

But the reason for Brexit is not primarily economic.

 

We all know what the prime reason is for Brexit, and yes it isn't about the economy, but it is about time Brexiteers realise that the real reason damages their economy

[Susco]

4 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

Yeah most media overestimate as usual. 

From FT today :-

The pound has climbed 0.64% to $1.3011 against the dollar today and 0.38% to €1.1958 against the euro.

 

Stop buying outdated newspapers because they are cheaper.

 

[Kwasaki]

2 minutes ago, Susco said:

 

Stop buying outdated newspapers because they are cheaper.

 

Oh!  OK that's a massive tumble. ????

[Susco]

11 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

Oh!  OK that's a massive tumble. ????

 

It is indeed not a massive tumble, though it is a DECLINE, where you spread the false news, like most Brexiteers do, that it had climbed by 0.64% against the dollar.

 

Quite a difference isn't it, and it shows how delusional the Brexiteers actually are