As this week’s negotiating round with the EU wraps up, David Frost has said “significant differences… still remain between us on a number of important issues.” Read the statement in full below:
“We have completed our discussion of the full range of issues in the negotiation in just over three days. Our talks were face to face for the first time since March and this has given extra depth and flexibility to our discussions.“The negotiations have been comprehensive and useful. But they have also underlined the significant differences that still remain between us on a number of important issues.“We remain committed to working hard to find an early understanding on the principles underlying an agreement out of the intensified talks process during July, as agreed at the HLM on 15 June.“Talks will continue next week in London as agreed in the revised terms of reference published on 12 June.”
Concluding the fourth negotiating round on the UK’s future relationship with the EU, Michel Barnier has said “there have been no significant areas of progress”.
David Frost also released a statement declaring “Progress remains limited but our talks have been positive in tone”. Barnier clearly isn’t reciprocating the “positive tone” as his press conference involved waving around the political declaration, telling the press “This document is available in all languages, including English. It’s not difficult to read.”
There are reports that the EU is preparing to relax the stringent approach it has taken up until this point to fisheries in its FTA negotiations with the UK. In what Reuters describes as the EU’s “first major concession”, an EU official told the news agency that “there have been hints of a possible reconciliation of approaches… We would be looking to shift on demands to keep everything as is now”. The next round of digital talks start next week…
This afternoon in the Future Relationship Select Committee, Michael Gove explained that he thinks the negotiations are going as well as expected, the UK is committed to its original deadline, and that all UK proposals are based on the precedents of what the EU has agreed in its FTAs with countries like Canada and Japan. Because Britain is now a sovereign country…
He did, however, acknowledge significant disagreements, particularly regarding the EU’s demands on level playing field provisions. Gove explained that he thinks the EU position is borne of a “difference in philosophy” and that the EU is viewing the UK as an associate state rather than as an independent nation. Tough talk…
A statement put out by the Government says that round two of the ongoing EU-UK Future Relationship negotiations were “full and constructive… conducted remotely by video conference, and with a full range of discussions across all the issues”, however “limited progress was made in bridging the gaps between us and the EU.” The Government is demanding the EU drops its insistence on imposing conditions on the UK which it doesn’t impose on other countries if progress is to be made on the so-called level playing field…
The Government claims there is “promising convergence in the core areas of a Free Trade Agreement, for example on goods and services trade, and related issues such as energy, transport, and civil nuclear cooperation.”, however the EU’s offer on goods trade “falls well short of recent precedent in FTAs it has agreed with other sovereign countries.” The next round begins on the 11th May…
