Britain and EU still face “considerable gaps” in significant areas over a Brexit deal, the UK’s chief negotiator, David Frost, has said, while insisting he still believes an agreement can be reached in September.
The EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, in his own comments following the end of the fifth round of formal talks, appeared more downbeat, saying the UK had “not shown the same level of engagement” as the EU in trying to find solutions.
In a No 10 statement, Frost warned that both sides must nonetheless face the prospect of no agreement being reached, given the distance on reaching level playing-field terms for trade, and fisheries.
Frost added: “Despite all the difficulties, on the basis of the work we have done in July, my assessment is that agreement can still be reached in September, and that we should continue to negotiate with this aim in mind.
After 47 years and 30 days it was all over. As the clock struck 11pm on 31 January 2020, the UK was officially divorced from the EU and began trying to carve out a new global role as a sovereign nation. It was a union that got off to a tricky start and continued to be marked by the UK’s sometimes conflicted relationship with its neighbours.
Brefusal
The French president, Charles de Gaulle, vetoes Britain’s entry to EEC, accusing the UK of a “deep-seated hostility” towards the European project.
Brentry
With Sir Edward Heath having signed the accession treaty the previous year, the UK enters the EEC in an official ceremony complete with a torch-lit rally, dickie-bowed officials and a procession of political leaders, including former prime ministers Harold Macmillan and Alec Douglas-Home.
Referendum
The UK decides to stay in the common market after 67% voted “yes”. Margaret Thatcher, later to be leader of the Conservative party, campaigned to remain.
‘Give us our money back’
Margaret Thatcher negotiated what became known as the UK rebate with other EU members after the “iron lady” marched into the former French royal palace at Fontainebleau to demand “our own money back” claiming for every £2 contributed we get only £1 back” despite being one of the “three poorer” members of the community.
It was a move that sowed the seeds of Tory Euroscepticism that was to later cause the Brexit schism in the party.
The Bruges speech
Thatcher served notice on the EU community in a defining moment in EU politics in which she questioned the expansionist plans of Jacques Delors, who had remarked that 80% of all decisions on economic and social policy would be made by the European Community within 10 years with a European government in “embryo”. That was a bridge too far for Thatcher.
The cold war ends
Collapse of Berlin wall and fall of communism in eastern Europe, which would later lead to expansion of EU.
‘No, no, no’
Divisions between the UK and the EU deepened with Thatcher telling the Commons in an infamous speech it was ‘no, no, no’ to what she saw as Delors’ continued power grab. Rupert Murdoch’s Sun newspaper ratchets up its opposition to Europe with a two-fingered “Up yours Delors” front page.
Black Wednesday
A collapse in the pound forced prime minister John Major and the then chancellor Norman Lamont to pull the UK out of the Exchange Rate Mechanism.
The single market
On 1 January, customs checks and duties were removed across the bloc. Thatcher hailed the vision of “a single market without barriers – visible or invisible – giving you direct and unhindered access to the purchasing power of over 300 million of the world’s wealthiest and most prosperous people”.
Maastricht treaty
Tory rebels vote against the treaty that paved the way for the creation of the European Union. John Major won the vote the following day in a pyrrhic victory.
Repairing the relationship
Tony Blair patches up the relationship. Signs up to social charter and workers’ rights.
Ukip
Nigel Farage elected an MEP and immediately goes on the offensive in Brussels. “Our interests are best served by not being a member of this club,” he said in his maiden speech. “The level playing field is about as level as the decks of the Titanic after it hit an iceberg.”
The euro
Chancellor Gordon Brown decides the UK will not join the euro.
EU enlarges to to include eight countries of the former eastern bloc including Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic.
EU expands again, allowing Romania and Bulgaria into the club.
Migrant crisis
Anti-immigration hysteria seems to take hold with references to “cockroches” by Katie Hopkins in the Sun and tabloid headlines such as “How many more can we take?” and “Calais crisis: send in the dogs”.
David Cameron returns from Brussels with an EU reform package – but it isn’t enough to appease the Eurosceptic wing of his own party
Brexit referendum
The UK votes to leave the European Union, triggering David Cameron’s resignation and paving the way for Theresa May to become prime minister
Britain leaves the EU
After years of parliamentary impasse during Theresa May’s attempt to get a deal agreed, the UK leaves the EU.
“Accordingly we look forward to welcoming the EU team back to London next week as planned for informal discussions and to the next negotiating round beginning on 17 August.”
At a press conference, Barnier said much of the interactions had been about Boris Johnson’s “red lines” over Brexit – no role for the European court of justice, the UK’s freedom to determine future laws, and agreement on fisheries.
He said: “We have tried to understand how these three red lines can be squared with our commitment to a comprehensive new partnership as set out in the political declaration signed by Prime Minister Johnson on 17 of October last year.”
He said the EU had engaged “sincerely”, adding: “Over the past few weeks the UK has not shown the same level of engagement and readiness to find solutions respecting the EU fundamental principles and interests.”
Hopes had been slim for any breakthrough during this round of talks, held in London, despite Downing Street’s position earlier this year that agreement would be needed by summer so a deal could be agreed and ratified before the end of the Brexit transition period in December.
In his statement, Frost said “substantial areas of disagreement remain”, with the EU and UK still deadlocked over some areas. However, he said there had been some progress.
“Specifically, the EU has listened to the UK on some of the issues most important to us, notably on the role of the court of justice, and we welcome this more pragmatic approach,” he said.
“Similarly, we have heard the EU’s concerns about a complex Switzerland-style set of agreements and we are ready to consider simpler structures, provided satisfactory terms can be found for dispute settlement and governance.
“We have also had constructive discussions on trade in goods and services, and in some of the sectoral agreements, notably on transport, social security cooperation, and participation in EU programmes. We have also continued to deepen our understanding of each other’s constraints on law enforcement.”
The biggest gaps were over the level playing field and fisheries, the statement added, with Frost noting that the next talks would begin little more than four months before the end of the transition period.
“Although we will continue energetically to seek an agreement with the EU, we must face the possibility that one will not be reached, and we must therefore continue preparing for all possible scenarios for the end of the transition period at the end of this year,” he said.
Frost’s tone, while cautious, was notably more upbeat than exchanges earlier in the talks.
In May, after an earlier set of negotiations, Frost accused Brussels of treating the UK as an “unworthy” partner by offering a low-quality trade agreement that he said would force the country to “bend to EU norms”.
In a letter to Barnier, Frost said EU proposals on state aid rules were “egregious” and “simply not a provision any democratic country could sign”.