An agreement on the post-”Brexit” relationship with London remains the objective of the European Union, but not at “any price”. It was in line behind this message from the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, that the EU27 discussed, on Thursday 15 October, the state of ongoing bilateral negotiations and called on London to take the final decisive steps.
In the presence of Michel Barnier, the EU’s Chief Negotiator, the leaders took stock of 7 months of talks, punctuated by the arrival of the pandemic in the spring, and which are now mainly focused on fisheries, the level playing field and the governance of the future co-operation agreement, as Mr Barnier underlined in a press conference with Mr Michel.
There has been “real progress”, but not enough on these three aspects “to say there is a prospect of an agreement”, the negotiator said. But “the discussions will continue”. I will be in London with my team “next week, even until the weekend, and then the week after in Brussels” to reach “an agreement by the end of the month”, he explained.
The EU negotiator will discuss this with his British counterpart, David Frost, on Friday 16 October. He reiterated his team’s readiness to engage in intensive discussions in order to reach a successful outcome.
At the same time, Mr Frost said via Twitter that he was “disappointed” about the outcome of the EU summit, lamenting the fact that the notion of “intensive” discussions had been struck from the conclusions adopted on Thursday evening.
The British negotiator was expected to advise Mr Johnson in the evening and recommend - or not - that he continue discussions with the EU. The day before, however, a spokesperson for the British government had suggested that Mr Frost would recommend that the work be continued.
Thursday, the discussions of the EU27 lasted more than 2 hours and took place in a secure room, without telephone or tablet, to preserve confidentiality, confirmed Mr Michel’s entourage.
On fair competition, Mr Barnier recalled that this “legitimate” concern of the EU27 to avoid any British dumping at the borders of the EU has existed since the “first day” of the negotiations.
Fisheries. On fisheries, an area in which slight friction between the EU negotiator, who is anxious to reach a compromise with London, and some more intransigent Member States was reported, Mr Barnier noted “great unity” in positions, “great solidarity” between Member States, even those less concerned by this subject.
At the end of the first working session, the Taoiseach of Ireland, Micheál Martin, welcomed the very strong unity of the Twenty-Seven in their support for the negotiating team on the three outstanding issues, as well as for Ireland on compliance by the UK with the British withdrawal agreement. We need a “fair and balanced” fisheries agreement, he stressed.
On arriving in Brussels, Xavier Bettel, the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, conceded that fisheries are not his country’s top priority. “But to say we don’t care would be wrong”, he said.
In this area, “we know that we will have to make an effort, but this effort must be reasonable, it must protect the EU’s fishing activity”, Mr Barnier said. The EU wants reciprocal and stable access to British waters, a fair distribution of quotas, and the British offer is not sufficient, he said.
At the same time, the benefits of quota-free and tariff-free access to the internal market, which is much more economically relevant for the UK, must be made clear to London.
Upon his arrival, French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed that fishing was his country’s priority, fair competition and governance of the agreement. “Fishermen cannot be sacrificed”, he said, rejecting the prospect of an agreement at all costs.
The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, was along this line. “We want a deal, but of course not at any price. It must be fair and benefit both parties”, she said.
And for Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, it would be “crazy” not to be able to reach an agreement that is so important “economically” and “geopolitically” for both the EU and London.
Link to the conclusions: https://bit.ly/379zhLC (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)