EU and UK trade negotiation still in limbo

Credit: AFP

Caption: European Union’s Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier walks at Westminster in London, Britain last Wednesday.

EU-UK trade negotiations have so far failed to reach agreement on their three most persistent sticking points — the level playing field, fisheries and settling disputes — the bloc’s executive and sources from both sides said on Tuesday.

That comes after nearly two weeks of intensified talks to salvage free trade between the 27-nation European Union and Britain from 2021.

The negotiations are in a final stretch aimed at sealing a new trade agreement by November 15.

“We have not yet found a solution on fisheries,” a spokesman for the European Commission told a regular news briefing in Brussels. “We are not there yet, a lot more work remains to be done.”

One source, an EU diplomat following Brexit, said disagreements persisted over the divvying up of fish stocks, including Britain’s demand for annual quota negotiations. “That’s where we are stuck. They haven’t moved beyond these items on fisheries,” said the person.

Britain left the EU in January and the estranged allies have since been locked in complex negotiations to try to agree a free trade deal by December 31.