Britain’s prime minister Boris Johnson (2R) and his wife Carrie Johnson (R) walk with US president Joe Biden and US First Lady Jill Biden prior to a bilateral meeting at Carbis Bay, Cornwall. Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty

If relations between the three points of the Brexit triangle of Dublin, London, and Brussels were dodgy before this week, they have deteriorated further in recent days as the temperature rises over the Northern Ireland protocol.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simon Coveney, admitted that there was “some strain in the relationship between Dublin and London” over the protocol. Understatement of the year. Relations between the two governments have not been as poor since the days when Margaret Thatcher was in Downing Street and Charles Haughey was in Merrion Street.

Privately some senior officials, who, prior to Brexit, delighted in the diplomatic and political achievement of better relations between Ireland and the UK than at any time since Independence, are aghast at the state of play.

But it is what it is. Politicians are taking pot-shots at each other, officials are briefing against each other’s governments with accusations that the other is endangering the peace process and charges of sheer hypocrisy. Some senior figures are aghast at the state of Anglo-Irish relations and old hands warn that the peace process only flourishes and Northern Ireland only makes progress when the two governments are working in lockstep; right now, it looks like the opposite of that.

Reneging

The connected relationship between the EU and the UK is even worse. The EU is accusing the UK of reneging on an agreement and warns that it will take legal steps to seek redress. The UK’s position is that the EU has adopted a more legalistic and nitpicking approach than the UK thought it would when it agreed the protocol. “They have taken an approach that is less discretionary than we thought they would,” says one senior Downing Street official. The UK’s Brexit minister David Frost says that Britain “underestimated the effect” of the Northern Ireland protocol.

But this is completely dismissed on the Irish and the EU side. Even some formerly at the heart of the British government eye it with skepticism. Former permanent secretary at the department for exiting the EU Philip Rycroft told Times Radio this week: “Take that with a large pinch of salt. The UK side knew exactly what they were signing up to. The UK has to accept responsibility.”

But the UK side is clear in its accusation that it is the EU that is failing to take account of the special circumstances in Northern Ireland, and say that the EU’s understanding of the North – and indeed, of the wider UK – is sketchy. The EU doesn’t realize – or doesn’t care – that the checks on goods entering the North make unionists “feel less British”, says one senior UK official.

EU negotiators often refer to Northern Ireland as being in the EU, the British say, with barely concealed irritation. They describe an approach characterized as “we decide who gets access to our market and Northern Ireland is now part of our market”, in the words of one senior official.

Irish and EU officials almost shout: this is what you agreed.

Coveney put it more sharply on Thursday: “When we have Lord Frost visiting Northern Ireland and saying the protocol is not sustainable, that is a problem, when he was the person who negotiated the protocol,” he said.

“It’s impossible to overstate the annoyance with the British behaviour on the North,” says one senior Irish official. Another says that the Irish Government has conveyed the message to the British: “If you’re seeking to push things to the limit, you’re nearly there.”

Seething

And London is seething that Dublin persuaded US president Joe Biden to intervene, sending an unprecedented diplomatic rebuke to Boris Johnson’s government over its treatment of the protocol, and the implications for the peace process.

The message followed a lengthy meeting between Coveney and the US national security adviser Jake Sullivan at Shannon Airport recently. Internal Irish Government readouts of the meeting suggested that the American tone was “what can we do to help?”

The British reaction can be gauged by the headline in the Daily Telegraph on Thursday: “Joe Biden should keep his sneering anti-British, anti-Brexit views to himself.”

Having applied a wrecking ball to the UK-Ireland and the UK-EU relationship, Brexit is now taking its toll on the “special relationship”. As it hosts the G7 meeting this weekend, the UK looks more isolated than ever.

Source: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/ni-protocol-tensions-threaten-uk-ireland-uk-eu-and-uk-us-relations-1.4589953

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With just over four weeks left until the United Kingdom finally exits the EU’s orbit on Dec. 31, both sides are demanding concessions from the other on fishing, state aid, and how to resolve any future disputes.

“We really are now running out of time, this is the crucial week, we need to get a breakthrough,” Eustice told Sky.

“I really do think we are now in to the final week or 10 days, of course, if great progress were made this week and you’re nearly there it’s always possible to extend those negotiations,” he said.

Britain formally left the EU on Jan. 31 but has been in a transition period since then under which rules on trade, travel, and business remain unchanged. From the start of 2021, it will be treated by Brussels as a third country.

Talks between EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier and British chief negotiator David Frost continued through Sunday. British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said it was a very significant week for Brexit.

“David Frost had made clear that we’re continuing the negotiations because we still think there is a prospect that we can get an agreement and while there is we should persevere with those,” Eustice said.

The post Time is running out for Brexit trade deal, UK minister says first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier today stepped up warnings across Europe that there will be new barriers with the UK even if an 11th-hour trade deal is struck.

Ahead of travelling to London to try to break the deadlock in negotiations, he tweeted guidance from the European Union that “changes are inevitable” and businesses, citizens and public bodies should prepare for them.

Mr Barnier was due to hold emergency talks today with UK chief Brexit negotiator David Frost amid a stand-off over state aid rules and fishing rights.

In a tweet directed at Croatia, he highlighted the guidance which states: “Even if the EU and the UK enter into a very ambitious partnership by the end of 2020 covering all areas agreed in the Political Declaration, the withdrawal of the UK from the EU, internal market and customs union at the end of the transition period will inevitably create barriers to trade and cross-border exchanges that do not exist today.

“Regardless of the outcome of the negotiations, from 1 January 2021, far-reaching consequences for public administrations, businesses and citizens will be visible.”

The warnings follow similar Twitter messages directed at other EU nations and come amid concerns that Britain could end up having left the European bloc with no deal at the end of the year.

Both sides are accusing the other of blocking progress in the talks.

A UK government spokesperson said: “It is the EU’s refusal to agree with us arrangements they have agreed with other major trading partners that is the cause of the difficulties, and will remain so until the EU accepts that the UK’s future subsidy arrangements are a matter for the British people and Parliament, not the EU.”

However, French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian blamed the UK’s “intransigent and unrealistic attitude”.

John Dickie, director of strategy for business group London First, said it was now “crucial that both sides work hard to agree a deal as quickly as possible. Businesses need time to prepare for the new arrangements, and their bandwidth has been squeezed by the pandemic.”

Source: https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/new-barriers-for-europe-and-uk-even-with-a-deal-a4537246.html

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According to The Guardian, Germany — which holds the rotating presidency of the EU council — had intended to discuss Britain’s departure at a September 2 meeting of ambassadors.

But the issue is said to have been removed from the agenda after weeks of talks in which the two sides remained deadlocked on a host of issues.

An EU diplomat told the title: “Since there hasn’t been any tangible progress in EU-UK negotiations, the Brexit item was taken off the agenda.”

The move follows downbeat statements last Friday from both the EU and UK chief negotiators after the latest round of negotiations.

Michel Barnier, the bloc’s Brexit lead, said a post-Brexit trade deal “seems unlikely”, and said he was “disappointed” at the state of the talks.

On the UK side, David Frost said the EU had made it “unnecessarily difficult” to make progress and called for movement on a host of issues before “substantive work can be done in any other area of the negotiation, including on legal texts”.

The UK is pushing for any agreement to respect its regulatory autonomy and status as an independent coastal state now it has left the EU.

But Brussels has been adamant that any deal cannot see Britain undercut its environmental and worker standards or state aid rules.

Failure to strike a deal, which the EU wants done by October, would leave the two sides trading on World Trade Organization terms, imposing a host of tariffs and quotas once the current transition period covering their relationship expires at the end of this year.

Source: https://www.politicshome.com/news/article/germany-ditches-plan-for-eu-brexit-talks-amid-concern-over-lack-of-progress

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“As we keep saying, we are not looking for a special or unique agreement. We want a deal with, at its core, an FTA like those the EU has agreed with other friendly countries, like Canada,” Frost said on Twitter.

“The UK’s sovereignty, over our laws, our courts, or our fishing waters, is of course not up for discussion and we will not accept anything which compromises it – just as we aren’t looking for anything which threatens the integrity of the EU’s single market.”

The post UK chief negotiator says aiming for Brexit deal in September first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Downing Street indicated it wants EU trade talks to end in September as officials met to break the deadlock today.

The Prime Minister’s spokesman said that UK-EU negotiations need to end “by the autumn” and the job of the UK’s chief negotiator will “cease to exist” later this year.

It comes as EU and UK negotiating teams met face-to-face for the first time since March in a bid to break the deadlock over trade terms.

It was also announced over the weekend that UK’s chief EU negotiator David Frost is to be made the next national security adviser (NSA).

Mr. Frost, a career diplomat, will move to his new role at the end of August, putting added pressure on the time they have to conclude a trade deal.

Asked if this meant a deadline of September, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said they did not want talks to continue into October.

He said Mr. Frost’s role will be dissolved as soon as talks have been concluded, adding: “We have been clear on a number of occasions that these talks shouldn’t drag and that want and need them to concluded by the autumn.

“He is taking up his role around the end of August. There will be a short transition period so if there is a small overlap with the Brexit negotiations that is possible.

“David has said he will of course remain, chief negotiator, while the talks are being concluded one way or another.”

The spokesman added: “The talks cannot go on forever.

“We need to make sure businesses can prepare properly for what will happen at the end of the year.

“If negotiations go on too long into the autumn then they won’t know what to prepare for.”

The current transition period expires at the end of the year, meaning new arrangements will need to be in place or the UK will follow World Trade Organisation rules for its relationship with the EU.

Monday marked the start of a month of intensified negotiations between the EU and UK. Teams led by Mr. Frost and the EU’s Michel Barnier were meeting in Brussels for the first time since the coronavirus crisis forced talks to be held remotely.

Boris Johnson hopes the UK-EU talks could result in a deal by the end of July.

Source: https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/uk-brexit-talks-september-downing-street-a4483456.html

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