Politics

Michel Barnier: 'Serious' issues remain over trade deal


Michel BarnierImage copyright
EPA

Image caption

Michel Barnier said the talks had been “constructive”

There remain “serious” differences between the UK and EU after the first round of trade talks, the bloc’s chief negotiator has said.

Michel Barnier said “very difficult” areas needed to be resolved, but a “good agreement for both sides” remained possible.

He said there were disagreements over competition rules, police co-operation, and how a deal would be enforced.

He also dismissed UK proposals on fishing as “impractical”.

Speaking to reporters in Brussels at the end of this week’s first round of trade negotiations, he said points of difference had “come as no surprise”.

Talks will move to London later this month for the second round. Both sides set out their respective positions in opposing strategy documents last month.

The UK has warned it will walk away from trade talks in June, when both sides are due to review progress, unless there is a “broad outline” of a deal.

The post-Brexit transition period, under which the UK will continue to follow EU rules, will end in December and Prime Minister Boris Johnson has vowed not to extend it.

Mr Barnier warned the UK against under-estimating the challenges posed by the end of the transition, which he said would be “very different” to those which accompanied the UK’s exit from the bloc at the end of January.

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Reaching a deal over fishing is likely to prove an early flashpoint in trade talks, with both sides having pledged to find a solution before July.

The EU wants to “uphold” existing access to British waters for vessels from member states, to avoid “economic dislocation” for their fishermen.

Mr Barnier said an alternative UK proposal to hold annual talks over access to its waters, as the EU does with Norway, was “totally impractical”.

“There’s a hundred species or so. What we can do with Norway on five species simply isn’t possible for 100 species,” he added.

Mr Barnier also said the first round of talks had revealed differences between the two sides over law-enforcement matters, where both sides are seeking a deal.

‘Question of trust’

He said a UK demand to pull out of the European Court of Human Rights and rejection of a role for the EU’s top court over individual rights would have an “immediate impact” on the depth of co-operation that would be possible.

He also said a “question of trust” remained over the UK’s pledge to ensure fair and open competition, another area of contention in the talks.

He added that the UK had committed to respecting high regulatory standards, but had resisted “appropriate mechanisms” to enforce them.

The EU wants the UK to sign up to strict competition rules, and to “ensure the application” in the UK of EU state-aid rules on subsidies for business.

Mr Johnson has rejected this approach, saying there is “no need” for a free trade deal to tie the UK to the bloc’s rules on subsidies or other areas such as competition policy, environmental rules or social protection.



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