They raised the prospect of an agreement could be found as easy as next Tuesday with progress being made in a number of areas as part of the intensified wrangling over a trade deal. The two sides were said to be close to finalising a draft legal text on future common standards, including state subsidies for businesses, as part of a tentative breakthrough in the talks. Lord Frost and EU counterpart Michel Barnier are expected to pass the negotiations up to Boris Johnson and European Commission chief Ursula von der leyen to take a decision on the final trade-offs.
Despite early signs of progress, it was said there are still significant gaps between both sides on the level-playing field, fisheries and enforcing the final agreement.
It is believed it will require a political intervention to break the deadlock on fisheries with a number of EU states, including France and Belgium, still holding out for the same level of access to Britain’s coastal waters after Brexit.
The Prime Minister could be urged to hold talks with French President Emmanuel Macron in order to find a compromise.
Mr Barnier was said to be working on a trade-off involving Britain’s access to the EU’s energy market in a bid to secure concessions from Downing Street on fisheries.
Christophe Hansen, a senior Brexit envoy for the European Parliament, said the UK could be given preferential access to deliver energy to the bloc in return for more generous terms for European trawlermen.
The Luxembourg MEP told Express.co.uk: “The UK in the future wants to be able to deliver to the EU’s energy market and we want to maintain the status quo for our fishermen.
“The UK could grant access to its fishing waters and on the other hand be granted access to the EU’s energy market – those are compromises we could make, both the UK and EU have strengths and weaknesses and that’s why we want to discuss everything together.”
Mr Hansen the row over access to Britain’s coastal waters, a key sticking point in the talks, remains on the “red list” on the EU’s traffic light system for progress.
But he insisted a deal on the level-playing field, including state aid, can be found in the coming days as talks tomorrow shift to Brussels.
“The problem is not the level-playing field or concerns over state aid, this is a question of trust,” he said.
“When we look at the UK, it doesn’t have a very strong track record of giving too much state aid, so the danger is not as imminent as one might say.
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He said: “We need six weeks to two months to do our work properly. We are under time pressure, this will already break a fast-tracked procedure and is the fastest we can do.
“We need concrete results in the first week of November.”
Before any Brexit deal can enter into force it must be scrutinised by two parliamentary committees in Brussels and then given the green light at a plenary session in December.
Mr Hansen said the Parliament could run out of time to complete the formalities unless the “substance” of the deal is completed by Tuesday at the latest.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMifmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmV4cHJlc3MuY28udWsvbmV3cy9wb2xpdGljcy8xMzUzMzE0L0JyZXhpdC1uZXdzLWRlYWwtdWstZXUtdHJhZGUtdGFsa3MtYWdyZWVtZW50LW1pY2hlbC1iYXJuaWVyLWRhdmlkLWZyb3N0LWxhdGVzdNIBggFodHRwczovL3d3dy5leHByZXNzLmNvLnVrL25ld3MvcG9saXRpY3MvMTM1MzMxNC9CcmV4aXQtbmV3cy1kZWFsLXVrLWV1LXRyYWRlLXRhbGtzLWFncmVlbWVudC1taWNoZWwtYmFybmllci1kYXZpZC1mcm9zdC1sYXRlc3QvYW1w?oc=5
2020-10-28 15:02:00Z
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