Von der Leyen, Johnson to 'go extra mile' with Brexit talks

BRUSSELS: EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson agreed on Sunday (Dec 13) to continue post-Brexit trade talks in search of an elusive deal.

"We had a useful phone call this morning," they said, in a joint statement that von der Leyen read out on EU television. "We discussed the major unresolved topics.

"After almost a year of negotiations, despite the fact that deadlines have been missed over and over we think it is responsible at this point to go the extra mile.

"We have accordingly mandated our negotiators to continue the talks and to see whether an agreement can even at this late stage be reached."

Sunday was just the latest in a string of supposedly hard deadlines for the negotiations but, with Britain due to leave the EU single market in 19 days, tensions are rising.

On Saturday, Britain took the dramatic step of announcing that armed naval vessels will patrol its waters from Jan 1 to exclude European crews from the fishing grounds they have shared, in some cases for centuries.

Brussels' tone has been less bellicose, and von der Leyen has made it clear that the EU will respect UK sovereignty after the post-Brexit transition period, but neither side is yet ready to compromise on core principles.

"CLOSE THE DOOR"

Without a trade deal, cross-Channel trade will revert to WTO rules, with tariffs driving up prices and generating paperwork for importers, and the failed negotiation could poison relations between London and Brussels for years to come.

On Wednesday, after what von der Leyen described as a "lively and interesting" working supper with Johnson in Brussels failed to find a breakthrough, the EU chief said they had agreed to "come to a decision by the end of the weekend".

But if the talks are to be extended again, it would only be for "for a maximum of a few days", France's Minister for Europe Clement Beaune told the newspaper Journal du Dimanche. "We're already in extra time," he warned.

READ: Nerves in Britain's financial sector at prospect of a 'no-deal' Brexit

In London, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told Sky News he would not yet "close the door" on chances that the talks continue "if EU can find its way to treat us like a normal independent country".

"I think that the EU is concerned that actually Britain might do rather well once we leave the EU and is worried about the competitive advantage even on the normal global rules that apply," he said.

Ireland stands to lose more than most EU members in a no-deal future with its larger neighbour outside the bloc, and Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin told the BBC he was still hopeful of a breakthrough.

"NO STONE UNTURND"

Martin said 97 per cent of an agreement has been negotiated and "it seems to me that the remaining 3 per cent should not be beyond the capacity of both sides to bridge".

"The fact that they negotiated into the night is an important sign in itself. Where the dialogue continues, that gives me hope," he said.

Much of the text of a possible trade deal is said to be ready, but Britain has rejected Brussels' insistence on a mechanism to allow it to retaliate if UK and EU law diverge in a way that puts continental firms at a competitive disadvantage.

"The defence of the single market is a red line for the European Union. What we have proposed to the United Kingdom respects British sovereignty. It could be the basis for an agreement," a senior EU source said, echoing an earlier von der Leyen statement.

In London, a government spokesman stressed that Britain was ready to leave the union and handle its own affairs after 47 years of close economic integration and that "as things stand, the offer on the table from the EU remains unacceptable".

"The prime minister will leave no stone unturned in this process, but he is absolutely clear: Any agreement must be fair and respect the fundamental position that the UK will be a sovereign nation in three weeks' time," the source said.

On Saturday, Downing Street had said the government had a playbook that "maps out every single foreseeable scenario" for potential problems after Dec 31, and "no one needs to worry about our food, medicine or vital supply chains".