Britain And The European Union Will Resume Trade Talks

Britain And The European Union Will Resume Trade Talks

Britain and the European Union will resume trade talks on Thursday 22 October. This was stated by the chief negotiator for Brexit David Frost. He confirmed preliminary information about the resumption of negotiations in order to save mutual trade worth billions of dollars. As Frost said, talks agreed after a telephone conversation with EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier will begin on Thursday afternoon. "The talks will be intense and will start tomorrow afternoon in London," Frost was quoted as saying by the DPA. According to Reuters, the talks should take place from October 22 to 25. Negotiators agreed on further talks less than a week after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson threatened that a trade agreement might not be reached. He responded to a statement by European Union leaders that "Britain should take the necessary steps to conclude the agreement." The situation thus became more complicated again. Although Johnson did not say directly that further talks would not take place, he told Brussels that they could only continue if the EU "substantially changed its approach". Britain's exit from the EU without a trade agreement would affect all sectors of the economy on the one hand, from producers to transport, retail to the agro-sector, in a situation where the economy of Britain and EU countries is negatively affected by the new coronavirus pandemic. Earlier in the day, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, said in the European Parliament that time was "running short". He added that the EU is ready to negotiate intensively on all issues, but it is Britain that must decide what to do next. According to Michel, it is the London decision that will determine Britain's access to the European Union's internal market. As Michel Barnier, the EU's chief negotiator for Brexit, said in the European Parliament, "an agreement can still be reached".