EU, Britain launch tough post-Brexit relationship talks
Brussels: British and EU trade negotiators embarked on high-stakes talks aimed at forging a new post-Brexit relationship on Monday, with timing tight and the sides far apart on key issues.
The EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier and his UK counterpart David Frost met in Brussels, launching several months of intense talks involving around 100 officials on each side.
The negotiations began just over a month after Britain left the EU, and are meant to wrap up by the end of this year -- an exceedingly tight timeframe that few see as feasible for anything but a bare-bones accord.
The deadline is effectively December 31, the end of the UK's current transition period during which it trades like an EU member with no tariffs or other barriers.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has ruled out extending the transition and both sides are looking to an EU-UK summit in June to decide whether talks are worth continuing.
The negotiations have been clouded by mistrust and weeks of chest-beating as each side has accused the other of reneging on high-ambition goals set out in a political declaration struck last year.
This week's talks in Brussels will end on Thursday, after two days in which the teams will divide to cover 11 key topics for the future relationship. The next round will take place in London, and thereafter alternate between the two capitals. Mandates published last week highlighted the EU's aim of securing a "level playing field" to prevent Britain from undercutting European standards on labour, tax, environment and state subsidies.
Meanwhile the UK is insisting on setting its own rules in the name of "economic and political independence". The acrimony pushed the British pound 1.3 percent lower against the euro on Monday amid fears that Britain's hard-line stance would hurt the economy. - AFP