Boris Johnson off to Brussels in bid to unlock Brexit talks

British prime minister and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen concluded ‘the conditions for finalizing an agreement are not there.’ British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will step in in an attempt to break the Brexit deadlock BY CHARLIE COOPER AND BARBARA MOENS December 7, 2020 8:12 pm LONDON — Boris Johnson started this. Now — one way or another — it looks like he wants to be the one to finish it. With chances of a post-Brexit free-trade agreement in the balance, the U.K. prime minister and one-time chief Vote Leave campaigner will travel to Brussels for his first face-to-face meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen since the U.K. formally left the EU in January. He does not go with a fair wind. Both sides reported next to no progress Monday despite intensive negotiations over the past 48 hours capped off by a 90-minute telephone call between Johnson and von der Leyen. In a joint statement afterwards, the two leaders said “the conditions for finalizing an agreement are not there,” with the same three areas of discord — fisheries, the so-called level playing field for trade, and the governance of any deal — still blocking the path to even the basic agreement the U.K. seeks. But despite gloomy briefings by both sides, the joint statement after the leaders' phone call promised “a physical meeting in Brussels in the coming days.” Earlier in the day, the U.K. government had also offered an olive branch in the form of a route to removing controversial clauses from domestic legislation, including its draft Internal Market Bill. Such clauses — controversial because they would give the U.K. power to unilaterally override the divorce deal struck with Brussels last year — would be unnecessary if the two sides could implement a solution to concerns the British had about how Brexit would be implemented in Northern Ireland, the U.K. said. MPs would, nonetheless, press ahead with a vote on the legislation in House of Commons Monday evening. However, with nothing in the four-year Brexit saga seemingly conventional, a deal remains far from certain. The chief negotiators, David Frost and Michel Barnier, will prepare “an overview” of the remaining differences — likely to be a single document, an EU official said — which will form the basis of the upcoming talks between the two political leaders. Frost and Barnier's starring roles in this saga could be over — when they hand over the file, it will be for the political leaders to decide whether there’s a path to a deal. No progress Neither side could confirm precisely when the "in person" meeting will happen, though one EU diplomat said von der Leyen would not meet during the European Council summit on Thursday and Friday. It is also not clear whether Johnson will seek to meet with other EU leaders, or whether the likes of Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel would even be willing to meet him at such a critical stage when EU27 unity — steadfast until now — is most liable to wobble. "Member states would be very hostile to any attempts to divide and conquer," said one EU diplomat. Von der Leyen spoke with Macron and Merkel, along with European Council President Charles Michel, shortly before her telephone call with Johnson, during which the French and German leaders assured her of their support for the Commission’s approach, according to two diplomats. Johnson is said to have asked whether Merkel and Macron could be be present on Monday’s call, but von der Leyen said no. U.K. government officials declined to comment. In a further gloomy assessment, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney earlier told RTÉ there had been “no progress at all” over the last two days and accused the U.K. of “if anything” landing “new problems” on the negotiating table in relation to fisheries. He said the mood in Brussels was darkening and that if there was no deal by Thursday “then leaders in the EU will certainly begin to think about contingency planning for a no trade deal Brexit.” A “political intervention” from the prime minister was what was needed to break the impasse, Coveney said. A senior U.K. government official gave a strikingly similar briefing on the state of play. “Talks are in the same position now as they were on Friday,” the official said. “We have made no tangible progress. It’s clear this must now continue politically. Whilst we do not consider this process to be closed, things are looking very tricky and there’s every chance we are not going to get there.” Keep talking In Brussels, there is some skepticism about whether or not Johnson’s visit will lead to a deal. Barnier on Monday gave a downbeat take on the Brexit talks to EU ambassadors and MEPs, saying that there has been little movement in the negotiations, despite a weekend phone call between von der Leyen and Johnson. The former French minister also strongly denied reports over the weekend that a deal had been struck on fisheries. One EU diplomat said “progress” was too strong a word to summarize the work done in the last few days. Brussels has insisted for weeks, or even months, that it had made significant compromises on all sensitive issues and that it’s now up to the U.K. to show the same willingness. But EU officials on Monday remained skeptical whether Johnson will be willing to make the same sort of concessions as he did to agree the Withdrawal Agreement last year, pointing out the huge domestic pressure Johnson is now under. They argue that while the meeting is definitely an important sign, things can still go both ways. One EU diplomat also pointed out that some outstanding issues are fairly technical, and that it remained to be seen whether Johnson would be the best person on the U.K. side to handle the endgame of these negotiations. Whatever happens, some in the EU insist they will keep negotiating, even if a deal isn’t struck this week — which would make ratification before the end of the transition period a huge challenge. The Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok said Monday that negotiations could drag into Christmas. The EU is even willing to continue negotiating after the end of the transition period, although that option has been ruled out by London. As for London's olive branch over controversial clauses in the Internal Market Bill, this was merely “noted” in Brussels, another EU diplomat said. The bill was seen as a provocation and a breach of trust by many on the EU side, and the European Parliament has made clear repeatedly that MEPs wouldn’t ratify any future deal if domestic legislation could override the Withdrawal Agreement. So while it’s a good thing that the bill would no longer stand in the way of a trade deal, the diplomat said London shouldn’t expect a “big round of applause.” It remains to be seen whether Johnson will leave Brussels in a few days’ time to the sound of a more generous ovation — or amid the din of no-deal recriminations. Florian Eder, Hans von der Burchard and Cristina Gallardo contributed reporting to this article. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Betty MacDonald fan club fans, we hope you'll enjoy this wonderful Christmas concert from Heidelberg with unique Julia Migenes as much as many Betty MacDonald fan club fans around the world. Please don't miss it. I bet Mark Twain would love very witty and wise Satire ist mein Lieblingstier ( Satire is my favourite animal ) by Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel. It's acoording to many delighted readers around the world one of the funniest books ever written. 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