Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen agree to make final push for Brexit trade deal following phone call

  • london
  • December 5, 2020
  • Comments Off on Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen agree to make final push for Brexit trade deal following phone call
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Following a telephone call lasting more than an hour, the two leaders acknowledged that differences remained over three critical issues: Level playing field, governance and fisheries.

In a joint statement, they said they were instructing their chief negotiators – Lord Frost and Michel Barnier – to meet in Brussels on Sunday to assess whether they could be resolved.

Following the statement Ms von der  Leyen warned that there could be no deal between the parties unless these issues were resolved.

“In a phone call today on the on-going negotiations between the European Union and the United Kingdom, we welcomed the fact that progress has been achieved in many areas,” the statement said.

“Nevertheless, significant differences remain on three critical issues: level playing field, governance and fisheries. Both sides underlined that no agreement is feasible if these issues are not resolved.

“Whilst recognising the seriousness of these differences, we agreed that a further effort should be undertaken by our negotiating teams to assess whether they can be resolved.

“We are therefore instructing our chief negotiators to reconvene tomorrow in Brussels. We will speak again on Monday evening.”