European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the European Parliament on Wednesday 16 December that there is now “a way forward to an agreement” with the UK on its exit from the EU, but was unable to say “whether there will be a deal or not”.
“The path may be very narrow, but it is there, and it is therefore our responsibility to continue trying”, she added, indicating that the next few days will be decisive. Mrs von der Leyen said the “good news” is that “we have found a way forward on most issues, but two issues remain outstanding: a level playing field and fisheries”.
On State aid, “we have made progress, based on common principles, guarantees of domestic enforcement, and the possibility of remedying the situation autonomously, if necessary”. And on standards equivalence, “we have agreed a strong mechanism of non-regression - that is a big step forward - to ensure that our common high labour, social, and environmental standards will not be undercut”.
But difficulties remain on how to “future-proof fair competition”.
Governance issues are also “largely being resolved”.
On the other hand, with regard to fisheries, “the discussion is still very difficult”. And, “in all honesty, it sometimes feels that we will not be able to resolve this issue. But we must keep trying to find a solution”.
Preparedness measures
For their part, Parliament and the Council of the EU validated on 16 December, as a matter of urgency, the new measures proposed on 10 December by the Commission (see EUROPE 12620/6) to prepare for the lack of agreement. These measures aim to mitigate the effect of a “no deal” on road and air transport and on fisheries. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)