Hopes for Brexit trade deal hang on leaders’ calls
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen and Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson held the fate of a post-Brexit trade deal in their hands yesterday as talks hung in the balance.
The focus of the negotiations has shifted to cross-Channel calls between the leaders after officials failed to close the gap on how to share access to UK fishing waters.
Asked whether a deal was possible on Wednesday or Thursday, a European source close to the talks said: "Yes, but as ever nothing is guaranteed."
If there is no breakthrough in the next two days, teams are expected to take a Christmas break, leaving only a narrow window to reach any deal before New Year.
And, with or without a trade deal, Britain will leave the EU single market at midnight on December 31, ending a half-century of deepening economic partnership.
The remaining differences between the two camps are narrow but deep, in particular over fishing, with EU crews facing a dramatic cut in their catch from British waters.
London wants to reduce EU fishing fleets' share of the estimated 650-million-euro annual haul by more than a third, with changes phased in over three years.
The EU, in particular countries with northern fishing fleets like France, Denmark and the Netherlands -- are insisting on 25 percent over at least six years.
And there are thorny details to be hammered out. There are quotas for more than a hundred different species of fish, and EU members want to share the cuts equally.
EU negotiator Michel Barnier briefed ambassadors and then senior MEPs on Tuesday that he had made his last offer on fish and that it was now up to political leaders to decide.
Brussels will continue to negotiate until the end of the year -- or even "beyond", as Barnier suggested -- but time is running out for any deal to be provisionally applied.
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