The third round of EU Future Relationship negotiations has just concluded, and UK Chief Negotiator David Frost has less than positive words to say about the EU approach. In a statement released to domestic media, Frost says:

“I regret however that we made very little progress towards agreement on the most significant outstanding issues between us.”

“The major obstacle to this is the EU’s insistence on including a set of novel and unbalanced proposals on the so-called “level playing field” which would bind this country to EU law or standards, or determine our domestic legal regimes, in a way that is unprecedented in Free Trade Agreements and not envisaged in the Political Declaration.  As soon as the EU recognises that we will not conclude an agreement on that basis, we will be able to make progress.”

In a line that reveals UK frustration with EU intransigence, Frost goes on to say:

“It is hard to understand why the EU insists on an ideological approach which makes it more difficult to reach a mutually beneficial agreement.”

The next round of negotiations begins in 16 days’ time. Before they begin the UK will publish “all the UK draft legal texts… so that the EU’s Member States and interested observers can see our approach in detail.” A big power move likely intended to undercut the Commission, showing up their game playing…