The United Kingdom and the European Union are struggling to agree on their post-Brexit relations and London is threatening to stop talks for lack of progress this week!
The United Kingdom and the European Union are at greater cost than ever, as London threatens to slam the door on negotiations on post-Brexit relations if progress is not made this week. And this, after Boris Johnson set a deadline of October 15 on Monday. Negotiations are therefore resuming in a tense climate to say the least, a bad atmosphere which continues to affect the pound Sterling... Around 10:40 a.m. GMT (12:40 p.m. in Paris), the pound lost 1.01% against the greenback at 1.3032 dollar. Against the euro, it fell 0.75% to 90.43 pence per euro. A few hours before Michel Barnier's arrival in London for talks due to start at 12:30 GMT and continue until Thursday, British negotiator David Frost called on the EU to "be more realistic about the status of independent country" from the United Kingdom. "We can no longer afford to rehash the same things" after "six months of dialogue" he said in a statement.

The UK formally left the EU on January 31, nearly four years after a historic referendum marking the end of 46 years of a rocky marriage. But it remains governed by European regulations until the end of December, while the two parties try to conclude a free trade agreement. The negotiations stumble in particular on fishing and the conditions of fair competition. Time is running out, with Brussels wanting an agreement by the end of October to allow timely ratification.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned for his part that in the absence of a compromise by the European summit on October 15, he will be satisfied with a "no deal" despite the risks of economic damage in a period of historic crisis due to the pandemic. new coronavirus. He even felt on Monday that this would represent "a good outcome" allowing the United Kingdom to "prosper" because it would have "the freedom to enter into trade agreements with all countries in the world". In his press release, David Frost said he wanted to send a "clear message" to his European counterpart Michel Barnier on Tuesday: "We must make progress this week if we want to reach an agreement on time".

The discussions promise to be tense, the day after the announcement by the British government of its desire to reconsider certain parts of the agreement governing the exit from the EU. The British government wants to modify in a "limited" way to "clarify" the protocol providing for customs arrangements for Northern Ireland. This text aims to guarantee the absence of a physical border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, a member of the EU, and to avoid the resurgence of tensions in this region, bloodied by three decades of "Troubles" until at the signing of the Good Friday Peace Agreement in 1998.

According to the conservative daily The Telegraph, Boris Johnson intends to tell EU leaders that this text is "contradictory" and must be revised to protect the unity of his country. This British reversal surprised the Europeans who reminded London of its commitments and warned of a blow to "trust" which would affect the ongoing negotiations on post-Brexit. For David Hening, UK Director of the European Center For International Political Economy think tank, "+ discovering +" today that the text raises problems for Northern Ireland is "absolute cynicism" on the part of the British government According to the Financial Times, UK government legal services director Jonathan Jones has resigned over the review.

In addition to the EU, the British government is trying to reach an ambitious agreement with the other major powers by the end of the year, in particular the United States with which the fourth round of negotiations begins on Tuesday. "Last week we exchanged our first market access offers, an important step in the negotiations," Trade Minister Liz Truss said on Twitter.

But breaking commitments at the risk of peace in Northern Ireland could damage the UK's negotiations with other countries. "If the United Kingdom, by leaving the European Union, (...) does so in a way that violates the Good Friday Agreement, there will be no free trade agreement between the States United States and the United Kingdom," US Congressman Brendan Boyle told the BBC on Tuesday.