”Britain running down the clock in Brexit talks”, says Michel Barnier

The first round, out of three, of negotiations between United Kingdom and European Union is ended and official statements and inofficial reports are starting to emerge. The negotiation game is clearly on.

The Guardian today writes about the comments from EU Lead Negotiator Michel Barnier.

Michel Barnier has suggested the UK is running down the clock in talks over the future trade and security relationship with the EU. The claim by the bloc’s chief negotiator during a virtual press conference at the end of a difficult week of videoconference talks was swiftly denied by the government.

A UK spokesman instead openly questioned the value of the deal being offered by Brussels when compared with a no-deal outcome.

Barnier continued: “The UK cannot refuse to extend the transition, and at the same time slow down discussions on important areas”.

Asked by journalists whether the EU could request an extension if the British did not, Barnier said it was not up to one side to be the “demandeur” (seeker), but it had to be a common decision for both parties before 30 June, as stated in the withdrawal agreement.

The lead UK negotiator David Frost later tweeted: “If we are to make progress now, we need to focus on agreeing a future relationship that has a comprehensive [free trade agreement] at its core, like those the EU has agreed elsewhere”.

”We support high standards. But there is no need for novel and unprecedented ‘level playing field’ rules, for example tying us to EU laws, or a role for the EU court. What the EU proposes is unlike anything agreed in other such FTAs and we will not agree to it here”.

It is clear that negotiations has started, there is much in line – and official statesment will continue to sound like this until later in the process. It is part of this important game. My sources say that the parties are closer than this and that progress has been made.

Source: TheGuardian