Brexit: Boris Johnson to head to Brussels for crucial talks

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Photos /AP

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the head of the European Commission plan to meet in person to see whether a last minute trade deal can be hammered out.

Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said after a lengthy phone call that "significant differences" remained on three key issues.

They said they were planning to discuss the differences "in a physical meeting in Brussels in the coming days."

The two leaders spoke for the second time in 48 hours as their trade teams remained locked in stalled negotiations in Brussels.

Gaps remain on fishing rights, fair-competition rules and the governance of future disputes, with just other three weeks until the two sides' current economic relationship unravels at the end of the year.

Any breakthrough would now have to come from the leaders themselves.

Despite intensified efforts, the joint statement said that "We agreed that the conditions for finalizing an agreement are not there due to the remaining significant differences on three critical issues: level playing field, governance and fisheries."

Britain's chief negotiator David Frost leaves the EU Borschette building after a meeting with EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier, in Brussels.

Earlier, EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier had no news of a breakthrough when he briefed ambassadors of the 27 member states 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 in the EU. On fisheries too, a lot of work remains, said the official.

Penny Mordaunt, a junior minister for Brexit planning, told MPs 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.

Officials for years have warned about the long, almost endless, line of trucks that a no-deal Brexit would create.

Now that scenario looks more and more likely to happen — and those tasked with managing it are scared and confused. https://t.co/cYaYTfZQ04

— POLITICOEurope (@POLITICOEurope) December 7, 2020

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 until 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 today, they will be closing in on an two-day EU summit starting on Friday, where German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron will be major players.

Still no dice on a #brexit trade deal.
Boris Johnson is off to Brussels.... https://t.co/zaDtavCnI0

— Peter Foster (@pmdfoster) December 7, 2020

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.

The politically charged issue of fisheries also continues to play an outsized role. The EU has demanded widespread access to UK fishing grounds that historically have been open to foreign trawlers. Britain insists it must control its own waters, doling out quotas annually.

While both Britain and the EU say they want a trade deal, trust and goodwill are strained after months of testy negotiations.

In a further complication, Johnson's government plans to revive legislation that breaches the legally binding Brexit withdrawal agreement it struck with the EU last year.

Boris Johnson has offered an olive branch to Brussels at a crucial stage in UK-EU trade talks https://t.co/MHWqChPDma

— Financial Times (@FinancialTimes) December 7, 2020

The UK Government acknowledges that the Internal Market Bill breaks international law, and the legislation has been condemned by the EU, US President-elect Joe Biden and scores of British lawmakers, including many from Johnson's own Conservative Party.

The House of Lords, Parliament's upper chamber, removed the law-breaking clauses from the legislation last month, but Johnson's Government will try to reinsert them .

Britain says the bill, which gives the government power to override parts of the withdrawal agreement relating to trade with Northern Ireland, is needed as an "insurance policy" to protect the flow of goods within the UK in the event of a no-deal Brexit. The EU sees it as an act of bad faith that could imperil Northern Ireland's peace settlement.

Boris Johnson is set to speak to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen about the final terms of any #Brexit deal.

The UK government has said it will keep talking for as long as it can.https://t.co/tqGwCkmJ8k

— DW News (@dwnews) December 7, 2020

The UK plans to introduce a Taxation Bill that contains more measures along the same lines and would further irritate the EU.

But the British Government offered the bloc an olive branch on the issue, saying it would remove the lawbreaking clauses if a joint UK-EU committee on Northern Ireland found solutions in the coming days. It said talks in the committee had been constructive.

EU member states have to unanimously support any post-Brexit trade deal and the agreement still needs to be voted on by the European parliament, procedures that would push any deal right up to the end-of-year deadline.

Both sides would suffer economically from a failure to secure a trade deal, but most economists think the British economy would take a greater hit, at least in the short term, because the UK does almost half its trade with the bloc.

- AP