EU Chief Negotiator For Brexit Plans To Extend His Visit To London
European Union (EU) chief negotiator for Brexit Michel Barnier plans to extend his visit to London until Wednesday.The reason is "cautious optimism" about the conduct of trade talks with Britain after the end of the transitional period on 31 December 2020.
The Sunday Telegraph reported about it.The EU negotiating team was originally scheduled to return to Brussels on Sunday.
The newspaper said that the British team would travel to Brussels for further talks on Thursday, October 29, and that October 31 was indeed the deadline for deciding whether both parties could reach an agreement.
The Sunday Telegraph also claims that Britain and the EU have made relatively last-minute progress in the negotiations. However, the issue of fisheries, which is the most controversial, still remains unresolved, threatening the tumultuous finale of a five-year brexit crisis.
Britain said on Friday it wanted to reach a trade agreement with the EU "as soon as possible" after France proposed that the new intensive schedule of talks be extended beyond 31 October.
If a trade agreement cannot be reached, both parties are in danger of imposing tariffs, which will further damage their economies, which is being decimated by the new coronavirus pandemic.
According to French Minister for Europe Clément Beaune, the EU wants to end the debate by 31 October so that it has enough time to ratify in the parliaments of all 27 member states of the bloc. But he also suggested that she could extend the deadline by a few more days in an effort to increase the chances of an agreement.
Beaune also called on Britain to step down on key issues, including the right of French and other European Union fishermen to continue fishing in UK waters.