SOURCE - Daily Telegraph 15/05/20
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/05/15/lockdown-uk-coronavirus-boris-johnson-1922-committee-london/
The EU's "ideological" refusal to drop its demand for a level-playing field has resulted in "very little progress" in trade talks this week, the Prime Minister's sherpa David Frost has said.
Michel Barnier is giving a press conference from 12:30pm today, following the latest round of remote Brexit trade talks between him and Mr Frost.
But in a statement issued just now, the UK's negotiator blasted the EU for sticking to its "set of novel and unbalanced proposals", which would "bind" the UK to the bloc "in a way that is unprecedented in Free Trade Agreements and not envisaged in the Political Declaration".
Source close to negotiations says the latest Brexit talks were “tetchy at times”
A senior UK official close to negotiations says the latest Brexit talks were “tetchy at times”, Amy Jones writes.The source said that the videolink talks have been “disruptive", but had "gone well in terms of process".However, there is no budging on either sides when it comes to the so-called level-playing field and fisheries.
"As we've tried to make clear from the start, there isn't a halfway house - we can't split the difference between areas where we control our own laws and waters, and those that we don't," the official said.
Despite challenges the UK negotiating team remains “optimistic” that there will be a deal. If not, the official claimed that trading with the bloc on Australia terms would be “perfectly doable and satisfactory”.
The source said: “We've always made clear that if an agreement can't be reached then trading on what we call Australia terms is perfectly doable and satisfactory. “But we've always made clear that we want to try and get to a deal and that is what where we're working hard to do.” The insider also confirmed that the UK will not ask for or accept an extension of the transition period. “We don't want an extension, we're not going to ask for one and we wouldn’t take one if it was offered,” they said.
1:41pm
Barnier: Parallel talks not a tactic, but necessary part of approach
Michel Barnier rejects the idea that the EU's parallel approach to talks is a "tactic" or hurting the negotiations in some way.
He claims it is just British "spin"and the reality is "quite the opposite".
It is in fact necessary to the talks, Mr Barnier adds. We wont be so niaive to conclude subjects of interest to the UK, which there are a lot of, without progress in other areas.
The EU negotiator says "no one is calling into question" the UK's sovereignty, but it works both ways.
He calls on the team to agree "what Boris Johnson wrote in the Political Declarationso we can avoid any unfair competitive advantage, any unfair competition, any non-regression clauses".
Without legal underpinning "I don't know what the Political Declaration was for".
1:31pm
Barnier: Determined, but not optimistic, that deal can be done
Michel Barnier says the round up was "very disappointing" and hopes that next ones in June and July are more positive.
He adds:
It is these two rounds which will establish the direction - either towards no deal, a disordered Brexit - or a deal, so an orderly economic Brexit, which is what I hope for.
I am still determined but not optimistic, given the determination on the British side for access to our market and have all the benefits of customs union and Single Market without being restricted by rules which are respected by members of the European Union.
We will never make an agreement to the detriment to the EU, because we do't want to sacrifice the future and our Single Market is our big plus point.
He says an agreement is possible, but we are ready for a no deal. We will step up preparation not just for no deal, but also to prepare our stakeholders, our consumers, for the changes which are going to come about anyway.
On financial services, he says it has been clear from the outset that the EU remains autonomous and will grant equivalence unilaterally - the UK will do the same with our institutions.
There is no question of co-management on something which is a European process.
He says it's the same on adequacy for data.
1:25pm
Barnier: Talks are 'not a tango or any other dance'
Responding to a question about talks taking two to tango, Michel Barnier says the negotiations is "not a tango or any other dance".
He says they are working in exceptional circumstances, but what we are missing si the more specific meetings outside of the main ones.
We were able to hold 40 parallel conferences over the course of the week. I really hope we will be able to see each other physically again, he adds.
On fisheries, he says there was a start of dialogue. But he says the EU can't accept the UK's position.
Without fisheries, no lengthy discussion on anything else is possible. Talks need to cover "species by species".
He hopes they will be discussed at the next round. The political declaration says we will try to seek an agreement by 1 July, and he says it is still doable for the fishing communities of both sides.
If British want a deal with us, there are other conditions linked to our sovereignty. We are not going to let a third country set the framework for access to our market, just as the UK has the same right to it for their market.
The issue is what do we do with our respective sovereignties.
We won't agree anything that compromises the integrity of the Single Market.
1:17pm
Barnier: Member states already implementing rules for British citizens
Having switched to English for the second part of his statement, a translator is now deployed to help with the Q&A.
Asked about citizens rights, Michel Barnier says he takes stock with member states regularly, pointing to the 1.5m Brits who live in the EU.
The 27 member states, which will be meeting a specialised committee on citizens rights and Ireland, are busy implementing their national rules.
Some of them have already started to issue citizens permits.
There will be necessary dialogue with each of the member states.
But the 3.5m citizens in the UK should be treated in a fair way, not discriminated against, he adds.
1:13pm
Barnier: EU wants a modern and unprecedented agreement
The EU wants a modern, unprecedented agreement, not a narrow one grounded in precedents, says Michel Barnier.
And not one carved up into sectors.
The EU will not act in haste, he says. The negotiation mandate was not written in haste but over three years.
The next round must bring change to "avoid the stalemate between us".
He says let's make "tangible progress across the board" in the next round, which is early June.
1:10pm
'We will be watching' UK for treatment of EU citizens: Barnier
We will be watching closely to make sure EU citizens residing in the UK do not face unfair treatment or any discrimination, Michel Barnier says.
The European Parliament is particularly alive to this, he adds.
Mr Barnier also says he expects the UK to honour the Single Market on the island of Ireland, with checks on goods, while also honouring the Irish protocol.
1:08pm
No trade deal without UK shift on LPF and fisheries
Level-playing field is not a nice to have - it is a must have, says Michel Barnier.
Without the UK moving on this and fisheries there will not be a trade deal, he says.
Why should we help British businesses to sell services in Europe, when we would have no guarantee that our busineses would get fair play treatment in the UK?
"They seek to have the same benefits of a member state of our single market without the same rights and obligations," Barnier says.
1:05pm
Pound drops as no trade deal looms large
The pound has dropped against most of its major peers today, as the UK heads closer to a Brexit cliff-edge with little sign of a deal in sight.
You can read all about it in the business blog here.
1:04pm
Barnier: UK argument to avoid LPF through tariffs 'anachronistic'
Michel Barnier says Michael Gove's suggestion that the UK could accept tariffs to avoid LPF is "anachronistic", my colleague James Crisp says.
Such an approach would require detailed, line by line negotiations that would take so long a transition period extension would be needed, he says
1:03pm
Barnier attacks UK's argument on level playing field
My colleague James Crisp is listening in from Brussels, and says Michel Barnier confirms there has been no progress of fisheries or level playing field.
Mr Barnier says Europe is looking towards the future not the past in the Brexit trade negotiations (and not precedents set in previous EU trade deals).
He attacks the UK's argument that it is only asking for what has been offered to other non-EU countries and this is a reason not to accept LPF.
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