Brexit: UK's chief negotiator accuses EU of treating Britain as 'unworthy' partner

As EU-UK finished the third roundtable for the post-Brexit deal, Britain’s chief negotiator David Frost has accused the European Union 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. According to reports, Frost has sent an ‘extraordinary’ letter to EU’s chief of negotiation, Michel 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 with the roundtable talks and in the recent letter, Frost also accused Barnier of demanding unprecedented authority over the British laws and its institutions through “novel and unbalances proposals”.

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The letter was sent shortly after the UK government published the draft of trade and security that underlined the tensions at the core of UK-EU negotiations. In the letter, UK’s chief negotiator also says that he “regrets” making “very little progress” towards the standard Comprehensive Free trade Agreement that the British government has been rooting for. Even though Frost noted that he shares “good understanding” with Barnier, he added that it is “hard” to contemplate EU’s “ideological” approach. 

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The UK's warning to the EU

Downing Street has already said that it would leave the talks in June unless there is a “broad outline” of a deal. According to an official release by the British government setting out the mandate for its future relationship with the EU and its negotiations, London would “move away” from the discussions of a trade accord after working in a “speedy and determined fashion”. The UK PM's government is hoping for a 'free-trade' agreement with the 27-nation-bloc to be “rapidly finalised by September”. 

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Image Source: AP