“Despite the noise – and it is loud – the fundamentals have not changed for both sides,” said the Brexit Analyst, Mujtaba Rahman. He added that there was movement from France on the issue of fisheries, which could open the door to talks restarting as long as the French president, Emmanuel Macron, did not have to “sign the death warrant” for Channel fishing fleets in the Boulogne region. The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, said: “We intend to focus on the negotiations and these negotiations will continue in the next few days.” Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister, suggested Johnson’s call for intensive talks and compromise, both of which were on offer, was simply an invitation to continue with the negotiation, despite Johnson’s claim that this summit had been his deadline for a deal. He said: “I look with a positive sense to Boris Johnson’s reaction now that he is implicitly stating that he also now wants the talks to continue.”In his statement, Johnson said that with only 10 weeks left until the Brexit transition period ended, he had to make a judgment about the likely outcome and to prepare the country.
Brexit Part 24
