Barnier Is Convinced That An Agreement With Britain On Trade After Brexit Is Still Possible

Barnier Is Convinced That An Agreement With Britain On Trade After Brexit Is Still Possible

European Union (EU) chief negotiator for Brexit Michel Barnier is convinced that an agreement with Britain on trade after Brexit is still possible. And he reduced the remaining points to be settled before the end of the year to only two. Barnier said on Monday that, after nine months of negotiations, compliance with fair competition and fisheries rules remains to be resolved. He did not mention the mechanism for resolving future disputes, on which both parties also could not agree for a long time. "Two conditions are not yet met," he said at a meeting with the ambassadors of the 27 EU countries, where he informed about the progress of the negotiations.

They canceled the deadline, they are negotiating further

Barnier is expected to continue discussions with his British counterpart David Frost on Monday. "This agreement is still possible," he added. Both sides are balancing on the brink of so-called uncontrolled Brexit without an agreement. However, they undertook to continue their efforts to reach an agreement by 1 January 2021, when the transition period following Britain's withdrawal from the bloc on 31 January 2020 is due to end. On Sunday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen dropped the original "deadline" for an agreement and promised to continue negotiations after it, in an effort to conclude a post-Brexit trade agreement that would prevent New Year's chaos and the cost of cross-border trade. Barnier is willing to accept a tariff-free or quota-free trade agreement with Britain, but only if London respects the rules and regulations that make the EU's single market of almost 500 million consumers so successful. "Free and fair competition, fair and free, fair and open, both always together," Barnier said. But Johnson does not want British companies to be subject to EU rules, especially if they do not have to adapt to land standards in the future.