Brexit: London considers EU offer “unacceptable”

 

Negotiations between the EU and the United Kingdom remained difficult on Saturday 12 December evening, on the eve of the deadline to tie a post-Brexit trade agreement, the British still deeming “unacceptable” the offer of the Europeans, twenty days before the final break.

As a sign of renewed tension between the two partners, London said Royal Navy ships were standing by to protect British fishing grounds where tensions could arise if negotiations failed.

Discussions could continue on Sunday

Discussions in Brussels between the negotiating teams, in the presence of European negotiator Michel Barnier and his British counterpart David Frost, continued on Saturday evening, before the decision expected on Sunday on the fate of post-Brexit negotiations. They could even continue on Sunday, said a source close to the talks. “As it stands, the EU’s offer remains unacceptable,” a source told the UK government in the evening. “Any deal must be fair and respect the fundamental position that the UK will be a sovereign nation in three weeks,” she added.

If no compromise is found, the UK, which officially left the EU on January 31, 2020 but continues to abide by European rules during a transition period that ends on December 31, will regain full control of its countries. waters on January 1st. Four 80-meter-long vessels stand ready to prevent EU trawlers from entering UK waters if there is no new agreement on fishing rights, one of the sticking points in negotiations commercial.

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