Brussels
British and EU negotiators embarked on probably their final two-day scramble to secure a post-Brexit trade deal on Sunday, after failing for eight months to reach agreement.
David Frost and Michel Barnier took up from where they left off in EU headquarters in Brussels, ending a two-day pause after a fruitless week of late-night wrangling in London. “We’re working very hard to try to get a deal. We’ll see what happens in the negotiations today,” Frost told reporters as he arrived at the city’s Gare de Midi train station. Talks were expected to go late on Sunday and into Monday, as a small team of the most senior negotiators haggled over the last remaining, but most contentious issues.
Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will reportedly lobby European leaders, after a call with EU chief Ursula von der Leyen on Saturday ended with the sides still wide apart.
The pair’s next call will be on Monday evening and then the 27 EU leaders will gather in Brussels on Thursday for a two-day summit planned to tackle their own budget dispute, but which will now once again be clouded by Brexit worries. Johnson and von der Leyen issued a downbeat joint statement after their call, with divisions still wide over fishing rights, fair trade rules and an enforcement mechanism to govern any deal.—AFP
