Great Britain and the EU obtained a “late breakthrough” on Sunday evening in talks on a post-Brexit of relations historical reset, said officials of the British government.
The two parties were locked in intense bargaining on the key details of their altered relationship, including on peaches, food trade and mobility of young people.
The eleventh hour talks were before a summit in Lancaster House on Monday when the two parties sign a security and defense partnership, the centerpiece of the new relationship.
The EU has offered a new open agreement in Great Britain to reduce obstacles to trade in Agrifood, but only in exchange for a 10-year reversal of a current agreement allowing the EU fishermen to operate in British waters.
Downing Street, which had previously offered a five -year extension, refused to comment on the offer, confirmed by civil servants on both sides. Sir Keir Starmer, British Prime Minister, knows that he may be accused of “selling” by British fishermen.
The summit is expected to start on Monday at 10 a.m. on Monday, and EU ambassadors will meet early on Monday to examine the results of the last -minute horse trade by British officials and negotiators of the European Commission.
A main EU diplomat said there would be an agreement, adding: “They will have to find a solution, even if it takes overnight.”
Starmer is expected to sign the defense pact and a press release promising more in -depth economic cooperation at a two -hour meeting with the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and the president of the European Council António Costa.
The UE-UK summit, the first since Brexit entered into force in 2020, should highlight a spirit of reconciliation, but the talks tense in Brussels on Sunday were a reminder that the relationship is now very transactional.
British officials said on Sunday evening that “enormous progress” had been made in certain regions, but that “negotiations went to the thread”.
The details of the UE-UK agreement are very politically sensitive. Conservative chief Kemi Badenoch warned that Starmer is about to “return” British interests.
British officials have admitted that the EU would not accept an open agreement to eliminate post -Brexit obstacles to the trade in food and animals – one of the largest “demand” in the United Kingdom – unless Brussels is satisfied with an agreement on fish.
“We want to trust companies,” said a British official, admitting that a veterinary agreement limited in time – known as Sanitary and Phytosanitar (SPS) – would leave farmers and supermarkets too much uncertainty.
Brussels had insisted on the fact that any SPS agreement should only last as long as Great Britain agreed to maintain the current fishing rules for EU boats. European diplomats considered the offer of an unlimited SPS agreement in exchange for a 10 -year -old fishing agreement as an important concession.
Meanwhile, Great Britain conceded that the abolition of food trade in food trade will force the United Kingdom to “dynamically align” the rules established in Brussels, and make payments to the EU to finance work on food and animal standards. The conservatives claim that it is a “betrayal” of Brexit.
The EU is also trying to bring Great Britain to register for an ambitious youth mobility program – including better access for students to British universities – in a “common understanding” press release to publish alongside the Defense Pact.
The EU warned Starmer that it will not allow British tour musicians to travel more easily through national borders in Europe or for British travelers to use the E-Gate pasports unless it is no longer daring on the mobility of young people, according to officials informed of talks.
Starmer conceded that a young mobility program would occur, but try to keep the language in the vague press release, allowing detailed discussions in controversial areas such as figures and student fees for new negotiations later this year.
Downing Street said that the Lancaster House summit would include an agreement to reduce “queues on vacation”, the European Minister of Relations with European Relations Nick Thomas-Symonds confirming on Sunday that he was looking for an agreement to allow the use of border e-gate.
But a second EU diplomat denied the request – which had also been made previously by the predecessor of Starmer, Rishi Sunak – had been granted.
“Starmer considers some of the results of the summit as an agreement already concluded, which is not the case, and he wants to appear as a profession,” said the diplomat. “British negotiators must show that they really want a reset on a” win-win “basis, and not only look at potential gains for one side.”
A person involved in EU talks said discussions should always go through. “The British are difficult negotiators. But we should finally obtain an agreement. “
EU diplomats complained about the recent starmer tactics to force an agreement. Last week, the British ministers called for the counterparts of the EU capitals to put pressure for an agreement, bypassing the commission – that a diplomat nicknamed a “rule and tactical rule”.
Problems that are not solved during the night could be “launched in long herbs” for new interviews, say the British officials, although the EU wishes to extract as many firm commitments as possible from London.
The details of the final text should be published at noon on Monday, but Starmer and its EU interlocutors will be in the pain in pain agree, rather than tensions exposed by the painful last minute talks.
Additional Barbara Moens reports in Brussels
