EU, UK enter tension-filled week seeking post-Brexit deal

BRUSSELS (AP):

European Union (EU) and British negotiators on Monday entered yet another tension-filled week as they sought a belated post-Brexit trade deal that needs to be vetted and get legislative approval before a January 1 cut-off date.

With both sides refusing to blink on any of the three key outstanding issues, time is increasingly in short supply, especially since the EU approval process would need to take around four weeks.

The United Kingdom (UK) already left the EU on January 31, but a transition period when EU rules apply to trade and other issues runs until the end of next month. Both sides had hoped to get a trade deal by then to save hundreds of thousands of jobs that could be at stake if Brexit amounts to a brutal, cliff-edge divorce.

As top negotiators resumed meetings in Brussels on Monday, neither side was ready to cede any ground just yet.

“We are working very hard to get a deal, but there is quite a lot to do,” said UK chief negotiator David Frost as he entered EU headquarters for more talks.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s office, meanwhile, again set out the strict conditions.

“If we are to make progress in the coming days, we need to see more realism from the EU on what it means for the UK to be an independent state,” said Johnson’s spokesman, James Slack. “There will be no change in our approach.”

If there is no change, however, the 27-nation EU insisted it wasn’t up to the bloc to do all the compromising. And the EU insisted that it wouldn’t be forced into any deal because of time pressure.