Brexit.

[Stora]

UK warns 'very little progress' made in EU trade talks

"Very little progress" has been made in the latest round of UK-EU trade talks, the UK government has said.
The UK's negotiator David Frost said a far-reaching free trade agreement could be agreed before the end of the year "without major difficulties".
But he said the process was being held up by the EU's desire to "bind" the UK to its laws and standards and by disagreements over fishing rights.

UK warns of 'very little progress' in EU talks

 

[Chin Rey]

And furthermore the two most important rules in life:
Rule 1: The teacher is always right.
Rule 2: If not, than rule 1 applies.

Did I mention before, that I'm a teacher?

Sadly my headmaster never understood that. That lost her quite a few teachers (including me) before she finally saw the writing on the wall blackboard and resigned herself.

 

[Sid]

Some people learn the hard way.

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

The UK just announced its own tariff system becoming effective 1st of January 2021. The percentage of goods without any tarriff is increased from 47 up to 60 %, and as a result for goods of around 62 billion pound the tariffs have been reduced or erased.

Tariffs on goods imported into the UK

How to check the tariff rates that apply to goods you import.

www.gov.uk

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

Kermit, err Nigel Farage now accuses French navy ships to escort dingies with illegal migrants to Briitish territory.

UK's Nigel Farage accuses French navy of escorting migrant boat into British waters

Ten countries agree on harmonized stance on opening borders

rmx.news

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

“There should be more realism in London in the coming period if they want an orderly agreement to withdraw from the single market and customs union,” he said, adding fishing, competition conditions and governance rules were the toughest areas.

“But we will not make progress there if the British continue to pick and choose the best of both worlds for themselves,” he said, adding a deal by the end of this year was “extremely difficult, but still possible”.

Reuters | Breaking International News & Views

Find latest news from every corner of the globe at Reuters.com, your online source for breaking international news coverage.

uk.reuters.com

BTW the EU is open for another two year extension of the transition period, but the UK must make the enquiry until 1st of July. An offer the UK has dismissed so far.

UK dismisses EU offer of two-year extension to Brexit transition

Michel Barnier has repeated that the bloc is 'open' to prolonging the standstill period, as governments focus on the coronavirus crisis.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[Dain Shan]

Oh man.. in my Opinion the EU had ALREADY bend over so many times to extend timelines. I really wonder how much more patience is in there.
Somehow here noone talks that much about that topic anymore. Its more like .. "Yeah, there was something.. who cares." state at the moment.
Maybe, because the pandemic fills all aviable news slots, i dont know.

 

[Nostrildamus]

Good to see the UK was able to regain their sovereignty by rejecting the EU, to me looks like another plot by the Germans for dominance of the continent.

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

He's not quite clear on the meaning of 'sovereign'.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

 

[Sid]

Compared the ravage the Corona virus economically will spread, the economical losses that the Brexit will cause are peanuts on the EU side.
So I think the UK has very little in their hands to put pressure on the EU to start handing over the goodies to the islands on the other side of the North sea.
So it is up to the UK as I see it.
But hey, they still have plenty of time before the next deadline, right?
So where is the can? I found the road already.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Compared the ravage the Corona virus economically will spread, the economical losses that the Brexit will cause are peanuts on the EU side.
So I think the UK has very little in their hands to put pressure on the EU to start handing over the goodies to the islands on the other side of the North sea.
So it is up to the UK as I see it.
But hey, they still have plenty of time before the next deadline, right?
So where is the can? I found the road already.

The concessions and compromises, if there are going to be any, will presumably be made right at the end of process, after direct discussions between Johnson, Barnier, and some of the EU heads of government.

Everyone is going to want some personal negotiating triumph they can point to when trying to sell some unpopular aspect of the agreement to their own legislatures, so I suspect it was preordained from the start that that the talks will end in deadlock of some sort, and the important question is whether they also end with some solutions that can then be used to demonstrate how brilliant Johnson, Macron, Merkel and the rest are at producing a mutually acceptable solution.

Johnson's already proved on many occasions that he's completely untroubled by boring stuff like consistency, truthfulness, principle or shame, as the DUP discovered a few weeks ago when he casually agreed that yes, there would be customs checks between NI and the Mainland after all.

It'll happen, or not, when it happens, or doesn't.

ETA

What a surprise

Brexit: Checks on EU imports to be phased-in amid coronavirus crisis

Ministers say it will give firms "time to adjust" as UK formally rules out extending transition period.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

Boris Johnson confirmed again last Friday that there will be no extension of the negotiation period past December.

It’s official: U.K. won’t require an extension of Brexit talks, even as negotiations with EU hit gridlock

In 2021 the current relationship between the U.K. and European Union will end and any agreement between the two sides will come into effect, if any.

www.marketwatch.com

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

 

[Innula Zenovka]

 

[Sid]

It's a bit late for voters remorse, if you ask me.
A nice chunk of the Tory leaders were advertising a no deal Brexit before the last elections.
So no real surprises there.

 

[Free]

It's a bit late for voters remorse, if you ask me.

I think of it as voters' penitence, because to get out of this is going to require them saying an unbelievably large amount of Our Fathers and Hail Marys.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

I've given up trying to predict what's going to happen, but I suspect that Johnson's main concern about any eventual agreement is getting it through Parliament.

Johnson is, as I keep on saying, completely unencumbered by any concerns about principle, truthfulness, honesty or even shame, so he's not going to be worried about going back on his previous red lines and ditches he's said he'll die on.

He just wants, in the words of his election slogan, to "Get Brexit Done", which is what he was elected to do, and he knows that, when it comes down to it, he'll get any sort of deal through Parliament, since because because he knows no one other than the lunatic fringe of the Conservative Party actually want a no-deal Brexit, he knows he can force it through with Opposition support.

I could be wrong -- I was about the referendum and about how the election would turn out, after all -- but I think they're keeping very quiet about the fact that they'll end up discovering a lot of red lines were, in fact, vague guidelines rather than anything else, particularly now Covid 19 has trashed all previous assumptions, and that anyone who really thought No Deal Is Better Than A Bad Deal should have stuck with the woman who kept on telling us that, because they want to ram it through this autumn, with as little time for argument as possible, and then get on with Covid-19 and its consequences.

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

Interesting: Stanley Johnson has applied for French citizenship.

Boris Johnson's father 'applies for French passport'

Move revealed by prime minister's sister Rachel

www.independent.co.uk

 

[Arkady Arkright]

Interesting: Stanley Johnson has applied for French citizenship.

He declared this intention some months ago - it's no great loss to the British nation...