Brexit: EU's chief negotiator accuses UK of 'backtracking' on commitments

As Britain is approaching towards the June deadline to ask for the extension of the 11-month transition period with the European Union, EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier has said that the UK is “backtracking” from its commitments made before the post-Brexit talks started in March. While talking to reporters in Brussels, Barnier has said that “no significant progress” has been made in the roundtable talks. Meanwhile, the UK has said that the post-Brexit negotiations have been “positive” and it had remained “committed to a successful outcome”. Both sides have faced challenges to reach an agreement on various issues ranging from the fisheries and police cooperation.

Moreover, EU’s Barnier has reportedly claimed that his responsibility is to “tell the truth” and therefore confessed that the talks this week were stagnant. According to him, these negotiations which are currently taking place remotely would “work better” if they were to meet in person. Britain had made certain commitments on a political declaration signed with the 27-nation-bloc that outlined the terms and conditions for the post-Brexit talks. But months into the talks, Bernier has reportedly said that UK is “continuing to backtrack”.

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UK's chief negotiator’s accusations on EU

Barnier’s statement came after Britain’s chief negotiator David Frost has accused the EU of treating the UK as an “unworthy” partner by offering a low-quality proposal for trade that would push London to “bend” to norms set by Brussels. Frost has already sent an ‘extraordinary’ letter to EU’s Barnier saying that Brussel’s proposed trade deal that EU state aid rules be part of British law is “egregious” and “simply not a provision any democratic country could sign”.

Britain is in an 11-month transition period with the 27-nation-bloc after exiting the union on January 31. The UK and EU had begun the trade negotiations in March after being halted due to coronavirus outbreak and it would set the frame for the future relationship between both sides after December 31. However, not much progress has been made in the talks and in the letter, Frost had also accused Barnier of demanding unprecedented authority over the British laws and its institutions through “novel and unbalances proposals”.

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