tangerinenotorange
Well-known member
Following the dropping of a bomb by the UK government in the form of the Internal Market Bill, the EU has now removed its threat to blockade food exports to Northern Ireland. Michel Barnier has told his UK counterpart Lord Frost that the EU was not serious about preventing food shipments being sent to the province. This reversal comes after Barnier’s warning threatened to seriously harm the current trade negotiations in Brussels which were described as a week of ‘useful talks’. Previously, Barnier had suggested the UK could be prevented from exporting to the EU unless the government published its exact post-Brexit plans for food safety.
Gaps remain between the parties in key areas, including fisheries and subsidies, but talks on these issues will continue next week. Issues previously blocking negotiations seem, in the light of the UK’s latest actions, to have suddenly become negotiable. The EU has hinted that the bloc could accept less stringent level-playing field regulations if a stronger enforcement measure is found. An EU spokesman said “If we want to make progress, we might need less content on a level-playing field and more on the need for a rock solid governance system. The developments of the last week have shown its importance”. The row over the government's Internal Market Bill has seen EU chiefs demand legally-binding clauses to protect any future trade agreement from being breached. Brussels yesterday announced that the bloc’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier could table new “governance” rules for the future cross-Channel relationship. He is understood to want extra guarantees that the UK government cannot break any deal agreed between the two sides.
So, it seems the proposed legislation has made the EU sit up and take notice, and issues that last week were EU red lines have now become ‘less stringent’ as the EU realises its traditional bully boy negotiating tactics will no longer be tolerated by the UK. Keep up the good work Boris.
Gaps remain between the parties in key areas, including fisheries and subsidies, but talks on these issues will continue next week. Issues previously blocking negotiations seem, in the light of the UK’s latest actions, to have suddenly become negotiable. The EU has hinted that the bloc could accept less stringent level-playing field regulations if a stronger enforcement measure is found. An EU spokesman said “If we want to make progress, we might need less content on a level-playing field and more on the need for a rock solid governance system. The developments of the last week have shown its importance”. The row over the government's Internal Market Bill has seen EU chiefs demand legally-binding clauses to protect any future trade agreement from being breached. Brussels yesterday announced that the bloc’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier could table new “governance” rules for the future cross-Channel relationship. He is understood to want extra guarantees that the UK government cannot break any deal agreed between the two sides.
So, it seems the proposed legislation has made the EU sit up and take notice, and issues that last week were EU red lines have now become ‘less stringent’ as the EU realises its traditional bully boy negotiating tactics will no longer be tolerated by the UK. Keep up the good work Boris.
Last edited: