EU Chief Negotiator, Michel Barnier has intimated that he believes a Brexit trade deal is still possible by the end of the year after the latest round of talks.
The Frenchman told journalists in Brussels that fair competition rules and fishing rights are the issues that remain unresolved after nine months of talks.
“Two conditions are not met yet,” he said as he entered a meeting to brief the 27 EU nations on progress in the talks. “This deal, it is still possible.”
Barnier is currently meeting his British counterpart, David Frost, as part of a final push to seek an agreement.
European Parliament officials told reporters that unless the two sides reached an agreement this week, any trade deal would have to apply on a provisional basis.
At the briefing, some EU parliamentarians were furious that they were not able to see any of the text that has been negotiated.
German MEP, Bernd Lange told Barnier that he had “no clue” why the draft agreement that diplomats in Brussels say is 97% finished, is being treated as “a state secret.”
The UK is currently in a transitional period where it follows all EU rules and enjoys most of the benefits of membership until the end of the year, although it officially left the bloc on January 31.
Earlier, British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen ditched their latest deadline, one of several in recent months, and promised to “go the extra mile” to seal a deal.
Barnier said the UK can have an agreement with no tariffs or quotas, but EU governments led by France and Germany worry that the British government will try to undercut the rules and regulations of the single market.
Boris Johnson does not want UK firms to be boxed in by EU restrictions, especially if those restrictions would have to be “progressively adapted to mainland standards in the future.”
On fisheries, Barnier has demanded “an agreement that guarantees a reciprocal, I insist, reciprocal access to markets and waters.”
EU fishermen want to continue working in British waters, but the UK’s seafood industry is also extremely dependent on exports into the 27-nation bloc.
Johnson made fisheries and UK control over its waters a key demand during the 2016 referendum campaign.
It has been over four years since Britons voted narrowly to leave the EU and “take back control” of the UK’s borders and laws.
Mr Johnson said on 11th December that the “most likely” outcome was that the two sides wouldn’t reach a deal and would trade on World Trade Organization terms, with the tariffs and barriers that would bring with it.
Exporters and importers will face customs declarations, goods checks and other obstacles. EU citizens will no longer be able to live and work in Britain without a visa — though that doesn’t apply to the more than 3 million already living there — and Britons will no longer be able to automatically work or retire in the EU.
