After four months of fruitless post-Brexit trade talks the UK and EU have confessed to the farcical situation that it may not be possible for them to even agree on a framework for creating an agreement
The ridiculous impasse features in yesterday’s joint statement which says that talks next month “should include, if possible, finding an early understanding on the principles underlying any agreement.”
The fact that after four months they’re still trying to find an “early understanding” of what they want to talk about was the most positive spin they could manage.
Downing Street signalled in its last statement on Brexit news, in February, that it hoped that by this week’s summit there would be the broad outline of an agreement which could be finalised by September.
If not, it would have to decide whether to walk away from talks and concentrate instead on preparing to start 2021 without any agreement.
So any prospect of a deal to prevent the UK from crashing out of the EU would seem to be hanging by a thread.
The EU has said any deal must be negotiated, checked, translated and presented to the European Parliament by November 26 if it is going to be ready for January 1 2021.
With Downing Street having forecast that even a broad outline of an agreement would take at least two months to finalise, that deadline could be too much of a challenge.
World Trade Organisation rules from January 1 would probably result in tariffs on a number of imports from the EU to the UK, including 10 per cent on motor vehicles from the EU.
The ridiculous impasse features in yesterday’s joint statement which says that talks next month “should include, if possible, finding an early understanding on the principles underlying any agreement.”
The fact that after four months they’re still trying to find an “early understanding” of what they want to talk about was the most positive spin they could manage.
Downing Street signalled in its last statement on Brexit news, in February, that it hoped that by this week’s summit there would be the broad outline of an agreement which could be finalised by September.
If not, it would have to decide whether to walk away from talks and concentrate instead on preparing to start 2021 without any agreement.
So any prospect of a deal to prevent the UK from crashing out of the EU would seem to be hanging by a thread.
The EU has said any deal must be negotiated, checked, translated and presented to the European Parliament by November 26 if it is going to be ready for January 1 2021.
With Downing Street having forecast that even a broad outline of an agreement would take at least two months to finalise, that deadline could be too much of a challenge.
World Trade Organisation rules from January 1 would probably result in tariffs on a number of imports from the EU to the UK, including 10 per cent on motor vehicles from the EU.
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