Deal or No Deal

Le Figaro reports a fall of the British pound after Brexit negotiations seem to have arrived at an impasse. Compared to the euro, the British pound lost 1,02%. Boris Johnson has already said that if the EU and the UK do not come to an agreement before October 15th, a no-deal Brexit would be satisfactory for the UK. Moreover, Le Figaro quotes the Financial Times stating that the permanent secretary to the Government Legal Department, Jonathan Jones, has decided to leave as a result of Johnson’s decision to revise the Brexit deal on the Irish border. The chief negotiator on Europe’s part, Michel Barnier, has made it clear that “everything that has been signed must be respected.” 

Il Corriere della Sera writes about the inflexibility of Prime Minister Boris Johnson. For Johnson, an agreement must be made before October 15th, the day of the next European Summit. Brussels, on the other hand, accuses Johnson of reneging on an international agreement and of risking the immediate failure of negotiations. Johnson stated that the UK “will not compromise on the fundamentals of what it means to be an independent country,” while Brussels insists that any unfair competition must be resisted. Fishing rights and state aid are the most important issues. The British want to be able to provide state aid to companies and rescind free European access to British fisheries. 

News from The Brussels Times reports an extraordinary EU-UK Joint Committee meeting on Thursday 10 September between Maros Sefcovic, Commissioner for Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight, and Michael Gove, Cabinet Office Minister to the UK. Both oversee the proper implementation of the agreement between Brussels and London. On Wednesday, however, the British government proposed an Internal Market Bill that would provide state aid and custom provisions undermining previous agreements. Von der Leyen has tweeted that this “would break international law and undermines trust.”

De Volkskrant reports an inside view of EU officials involved in the deal. Reportedly, an EU official has said that “among national leaders, no one’s more unreliable than Boris Johnson.” Ireland’s Deputy Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has described the Conservative government’s behaviour as “kamikaze” brinkmanship. EU officials themselves have no intention to halt negotiations, lest this play into the Eurosceptic rhetoric from Downing Street. However, according to De Volskrant, a no-deal scenario by January is looking increasingly likely.