The European Union’s negotiator for the negotiations on the future relationship with the United Kingdom, Michel Barnier, regretted on Friday 5 June that the round of bilateral negotiations, held from 2 to 5 June, had resulted in meagre progress. An agreement on fisheries before July, in particular, seems out of reach.
This observation was shared by his British counterpart. David Frost spoke of “limited progress” and considered that the videoconference negotiations had reached “their limits”. The two parties are also expected to try to see each other at the end of June, this time in person.
“Four points needed to be unblocked: fisheries, fair competition rules, guarantees of fundamental rights for police and judicial cooperation and governance”, Mr Barnier reminded. Although “a lot of time has been spent on it, the truth is that there has been no significant progress”, he commented.
While this round of talks was officially the last before the two sides meet in a mini-summit in mid-June to take stock of progress, the EU chief negotiator noted some progress on fundamental rights and London’s commitment to the European Convention on Human Rights. The Commission makes such a commitment a condition for the negotiation of bilateral arrangements for judicial and police cooperation, for example on extradition.
On the other elements, the yield was poor, and Mr Barnier hoped that a new round of physical talks could finally change things.
On fisheries, the British have not budged or shown any approach other than “zonal attachment”, the negotiator said. “They continue to make access to their waters conditional on annual negotiations”, an approach “impossible for us, even from a technical point of view”, he added.
On this issue, the Commission wants to maintain the logic of stability that has lasted for 40 years of UK membership of the EU.
While the parties wanted to reach an agreement on fisheries by 1 July, “it seems clear that we will not reach this target”, said Mr Barnier.
There has been “no progress” on preserving a level playing field, according to Mr Barnier, despite “our choice to work on subjects that could and should have been more consensual”, such as non-regression clauses on climate, ecology, taxation or sustainable development.
Backtracking from the 2019 Declaration on Future Relationships
No breakthrough has been achieved either on governance either, despite the Commission’s desire for a global agreement and London’s search for sectoral agreements.
Mr Barnier expressed concern about London’s denials of the political declaration on future bilateral relations, approved in October 2019, which accompanies the UK’s agreement to withdraw from the EU. The British government is moving away from this statement and even “backtracking”, he noted. In particular, London no longer seems to want to guarantee the objective of having high standards on taxation, climate and State Aid.
The negotiator also continued to deplore the British unwillingness to negotiate a future relationship in the strategic and defence field. He said he “does not understand” why London does not want to reach an agreement on this issue with the EU “when it was also in the political declaration”.
Despite these criticisms, Mr Barnier again judged that an agreement is still possible “over the summer”, if “calm and serenity are maintained”.
By then, the high-level summit, which Boris Johnson wants to use for a more political discussion, will have taken place. What does Michel Barnier expect? A renewed strong commitment by the British Prime Minister “to respect the Political Declaration”. With the beginning of June, Mr Barnier believes “we are approaching the moment of truth” in these negotiations. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)