Parties deadlock after post-Brexit talks

BRUSSELS (AP):

Leaders of Britain and the European Union (E) held a high-stakes phone call on Monday for the second time in 48 hours, as the two sides sent out gloomy signals about the chances of breaking an impasse and securing a post-Brexit trade deal before the current relationship winds down at the end of the month.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen started their phone call in the late afternoon to decide whether or not to pull the plug on talks — a decision that could cost hundreds of thousands of jobs on both sides and disrupt cross-Channel trade for years to come.

They were also considering whether to continue and after 90 minutes of talks, the call was suspended. It wasn’t immediately clear if they would speak again.

EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier had no news of a breakthrough when be briefed ambassadors of the 27 member states early Monday on the chances of a deal with London before the December 31 deadline.

Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said Barnier’s message was “very downbeat”.

“I would say he is very gloomy, and obviously very cautious about the ability to make progress today,” Coveney told Irish broadcaster RTE.

One official from an EU nation said “the difficulties persist” over the legal oversight of any trade deal and standards of fair play that the UK needs to meet to be able to export to the EU. On fisheries, too, a lot of work remains, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks were ongoing.

Penny Mordaunt, a junior minister for Brexit planning, told lawmakers in the House of Commons that the “level playing field” — competition rules that Britain must agree to to gain access to the EU market — was the most difficult, unresolved issue.

“We are at a critical moment,” she said.

Britain’s pound currency fell more than one per cent against the dollar to under $1.33 amid the uncertainty.

Johnson’s spokesman, Jamie Davies, declined to offer odds on a deal being struck.

“I’m not going to put a percentage on it,” he said. “We are prepared to negotiate for as long as we have time available if we think an agreement is still possible.”

While the UK left the EU politically on January 31, it remains within the bloc’s tariff-free single market and customs union through to December 31. Reaching a trade deal by then would ensure there are no tariffs and trade quotas on goods exported or imported by the two sides, although there would still be new costs and red tape.

At his early-morning meeting with EU ambassadors, Barnier faced some anxious member states that feared too much might have been yielded already to London. If talks continue after Monday, they will be closing in on a two-day EU summit, starting on Thursday, where German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron will be major players.

Germany wants a deal partly because its massive car industry has always found a welcome export market in Britain. France — seen by Britain as the ‘bad cop’ in trade negotiations — has taken the lead in demanding that UK companies must closely align themselves with EU rules, and environmental and social standards, if they still want to export to the lucrative market of 450 million people.