British and European Union leaders failed to narrow differences over an elusive post-Brexit trade deal in last-ditch telephone diplomacy on Monday, leaving themselves just 48 hours to avoid a disorderly parting of ways at the end of this month.
EU officials said that, if anything, negotiations in Brussels had gone backwards rather than advanced before a 90-minute call between British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in the evening.
Johnson will travel to Brussels to talk to her again.
Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said they have until Wednesday to prevent a “no-deal” scenario when the UK leaves the EU’s orbit on Dec. 31, which would hit its economy hard and compound the pain of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Leaders of the 27 EU member states have agreed to step up contingency planning for the effects of a “no deal” on their economies when they meet for a summit on Thursday and Friday, hence the Wednesday deadline.
“The conditions for an agreement are not there due to remaining differences on critical issues,” von der Leyen and Johnson said in a joint statement after their call, which followed an equally fruitless conversation on Saturday.
“We asked our chief negotiators to prepare an overview of the remaining differences to be discussed in person in the coming days,” they said.
The British pound tumbled on concerns that there would be no agreement covering annual trade worth nearly $1 trillion.
Britain, which joined the EU in 1973, formally left the bloc on Jan. 31 but has been in a transition period since then under which rules on trade, travel and business remain unchanged.
For weeks, the two sides have been haggling over fishing rights in British waters, ensuring fair competition for companies and ways to solve future disputes.
Failure to secure a deal would clog borders, upset financial markets and disrupt delicate supply chains across Europe and beyond as the world tries to cope with the vast economic cost of the COVID-19 pandemic.
With just days left for a deal to be agreed, EU diplomats said it was a decisive moment for both the United Kingdom and the bloc which built the ruined nations of Europe into a global power after the devastation of World War Two.
Britain said it could remove clauses in legislation that would breach its Brexit deal with the EU and would review provisions in another bill if talks on the Withdrawal Agreement progress.
Britain admits the clauses breach international law but says they are an essential safety net that would ensure the integrity of the United Kingdom.
(Reuters)
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