Tag: free trade agreement

EU member states are desperate to keep access to UK fisheries – but seven countries fumed at Michel Barnier over a key agreement on the issue. The EU is demanding the UK to keep its waters open to foreign vessels if it wants access to European markets. As Prime Minister Boris Johnson pushes to take… Continue reading Brexit Part 14

The latest round of talks between the UK and EU on a post-Brexit trade deal have broken up early, with little progress once again apparently being made. The negotiating teams had been meeting in Brussels in what was the first in five week-long rounds of negotiations. They were also meeting face-to-face for the first time… Continue reading Brexit Part 13

Boris Johnson’s official spokesman insisted: “We have completed our own proportionate and thorough assessment of the EU on time. “What we are doing is returning over 1,000 pages of questionnaires that were sent by the EU to the UK late. “These are straightforward assessments as we start from having similar rules and a history of… Continue reading Brexit Part 12

Michel Barnier said in a statement: “As you know, the political declaration committed us to ‘best endeavours’ to finalise our respective assessments by the end of June. “The European Commission has therefore sent questionnaires to the UK, covering 28 areas where equivalence assessments are possible. So far, the UK has only answered four of these… Continue reading Brexit Part 11

Boris Johnson has furiously hit back at the European Union, blaming Brussels for missing a key deadline in post-Brexit trade talks as the two sides continue to trade vicious blows amid increasing fears of a no deal conclusion. The UK missed Tuesday’s deadline to hand in 28 regulatory equivalency assessments to the EU relating to… Continue reading Brexit Part 10

The United Kingdom and the European Union showed little sign of progress towards a deal on their post-Brexit relationship this week, failing to bridge differences over future competition and EU fishing access to British waters. The EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier told a news conference on Friday that the UK had set a tight deadline… Continue reading Brexit Part 9

The EU also wants the negotiations to “be conducted in a way that ensures parallelism among the various sectoral tracks of the negotiation.” This means that it will be looking to address different areas at the same time. The UK government also said Thursday that it will be looking to address all areas in parallel.… Continue reading Brexit Part 8

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson wants a Canada-style agreement with zero tariffs. This refers to a trade deal that the European Union negotiated with Canada over seven years and concluded in 2014 – although it is yet to be fully ratified by national parliaments in Europe. The deal, named CETA, got rid of most of… Continue reading Brexit Part 7

The EU and the UK are starting their first post-Brexit trade talks on Monday, in what European ministers are expecting to be “complicated” negotiations. The United Kingdom left the European Union on January 31, but it is still subject to European law and rules at least until the end of the year, when the so-called… Continue reading Brexit Part 6

There are many divergences and they are very serious divergences, which is probably quite natural after a first round of negotiations,” Michel Barnier, the EU’s Brexit chief, told reporters. The differences revolve around competition rules, fisheries and future oversight of the U.K.-EU relationship, Barnier explained. However, Barnier also told reporters that a trade deal is… Continue reading Brexit Part 5