Britain and the European Union (EU) failed to make progress in talks on post-Brexit relations this week due to major differences and called off a one-on-one meeting between their chief negotiators, officials said on Thursday.
The European Union’s most powerful member, Germany, takes over the bloc’s rotating presidency as of Wednesday amid a raft of challenges — from COVID-19 and the economic devastation it has wrought, to Brexit, trade with China and tensions with the United States.
British proposals to give the City of London access to the European Union are “unacceptable” because they seek to maintain the benefits of the single market without the obligations, the bloc’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said on Tuesday.
UK has been standing out for the Falklands and its squid and fish sales to the European Union, according to an article from the Financial Times, credited to Jim Brunsden in Brussels, and referred to the post-Brexit EU/UK trade talks.
A senior French official said she could not rule out the European Union's trade talks with departed ex-member Britain ending without a deal though it was in the British interest to reach one.
The European Union's chief executive, Ursula von der Leyen, said on Wednesday that the bloc will do its best to seal an agreement on new ties with Britain by the end of the year but will not compromise its core values, notably on fair competition.
The EU is willing to shift its stance on fisheries in negotiations with Britain next week, in what would be the first major concession from the bloc in talks on their new relationship after Brexit.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will resume Brexit talks in Brussels next month, the Times newspaper reported on Thursday. Britain's negotiator with the European Union, David Frost, said Johnson will meet the presidents of the European Commission and Council to formally assess the state of the talks, according to the newspaper.
The status of Gibraltar can be negotiated for Gibraltar by any parties other than the government of Gibraltar, and it is unacceptable to suggest that any negotiation could be between Spain and the United Kingdom. In the post-Brexit future, for the people of Gibraltar democratic legitimacy and credibility is above any return to old-style bilateralism.
A senior European Union politician couldn't help a Brexit quip as he waded into Britain's row over Dominic Cummings, Prime Minister Boris Johnson's top adviser and mastermind of leaving the bloc who is accused of violating coronavirus travel curbs.