With just under six weeks until the end of the transition period, the EU-UK negotiations on the future relationship hit a familiar roadblock, as the coronavirus breached the carefully sealed bubble of negotiators.   Since the very public fallout between the parties in October, talks had, as promised by Commission President von der Leyen, been significantly intensified with in-person negotiations taking place almost daily since 22 October. In fact, considering that both chief negotiators had been very light-lipped recently, some commentators...

Following ten days of intensified talks on the EU-UK post-Brexit future relationship following their public fall-out a few weeks ago, Michel Barnier painted a gloomy picture of the current state play. While not yet speaking publicly about the developments of his talks with David Frost in the past week, the EU’s Chief Brexit negotiator this week updated EU ambassadors as well as the European Parliament’s Brexit Coordination Group on the state of play. In his only public comments since the...

In her most optimistic comments yet on the ongoing post-Brexit future relationship negotiations, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen acknowledged that negotiations had intensified since last week’s very public falling out and that they were making “good progress”. However, speaking to press following a videoconference with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, she conceded that more progress was needed on the two remaining critical issues of the level playing field and fisheries. While she did not specifically mention governance, an agreement...

“I have concluded that we should get ready for January 1 with arrangements that are like Australia’s based on simple principles of global free trade” – Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s statement following last week’s European Council summit kicked off what can only be described as a week of very public back and forth posturing leaving us wondering whether the post-Brexit trade talks had in fact, failed. The walkout came late on Friday afternoon, after the UK Government took issue with...

Not everyone realizes that, in a formal sense, Brexit has actually already happened – with effect from midnight (European time) on 31 January 2020 the UK ceased to be a member of the European Union. However you will be forgiven for not noticing much difference because with immediate effect the UK entered into the transition period which runs until 11 pm UK time on 31 December 2020. The UK and EU continue to negotiate an agreement on the future...

With the publication of its Internal Market Bill on 9 September 2020, the UK government has set itself on a potentially irreconcilable collision course with the EU over the issue of State aid. Indeed, this move is less a shot across the bows as it is a coach and horses driven through the current negotiations with the EU on an EU-UK free trade agreement ("FTA"), which are at a particularly delicate stage given that the Brexit transition period expires...