EU’s Barnier warns ‘Take-it-or-Leave-it Moment’ in talks with UK

Sputnik news agency and radio 20:43 GMT 28.11.2020

The clock is ticking for the UK and the EU to produce a withdrawal agreement following months of arduous negotiations between the two sides on the future of Britain’s relationship with the bloc once it departs next year.

The European Union’s top negotiator Michel Barnier has suggested that UK-EU talks on a Brexit withdrawal deal are approaching a crunch moment, saying that “we are not far from the take-it-or-leave-it moment,” according to The Daily Mail.

The EU diplomat arrived in London on the evening of Friday, 27 November, in a rushed bid to hash out a deal on future trade relations between the UK and the EU before Britain’s transition period finishes at the end of 2020. The UK is on the same trading terms with Brussels since it left the bloc in January 2019 as part of the agreed transition period.

Adding urgency to the talks, this is the first time that Mr Barnier has been able to meet with the UK’s Brexit negotiator, Lord David Frost, after he went into self-isolation following a member of his team catching Covid-19.

The window for reaching an agreement between both sides is fast closing.

A failure to do so by January 1, when the UK’s Brexit transition period officially ends, will mean that the UK leaves on no-deal terms, and will likely deliver serious economic consequences to both sides. In a Friday tweet, Mr Barnier noted that the “same significant divergences persist,” particularly on the issues of fishing and fair trade rules.

David Frost said he will continue to push for a deal while the possibility for one remains. However, he cautioned that the agreement must respect UK national sovereignty, including the UK's right to exercise control over its own immigration policies and fishing waters.