Johnson returns to Brexit with aim of firing up faltering talks

Bloomberg

British PM Boris Johnson was expected to step back into the Brexit fray on Monday as he held talks with the European Union’s top officials, with both sides looking to reset negotiations that have drifted into stalemate.
In Johnson’s first direct intervention in the discussions since the UK left the bloc at the end of January, each side is looking for tacit acknowledgment from the other that a deal on their future relations can still be reached. Since March, both sides have struggled to make progress as neither has shifted dramatically from their opening positions, leaving it unclear how the deadlock will be broken.
No breakthrough was expected from the video call between Johnson and the presidents of the European Commission, Council and Parliament. The meeting was a requirement of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement and will be a review of its implementation and the progress of the trade talks. While both sides speak of it as an opportunity to inject fresh impetus into the proceedings, officials say Monday’s conversation won’t be a forum for negotiation.
That was left to the two teams of officials, who were last week given new marching orders to continue and step up
the pace of their discussions over the next two months and beyond. The British government, which last week formally ruled out extending the deadline for a deal beyond the year-end, had been pushing for that intensification.
In addition to the formal rounds involving dozens of officials, the two sides’ chief
negotiators plan to hold less technical meetings between themselves. That, people on both sides say, was a sign they know there was a path to a deal, even if it was still shrouded in fog.
While politicians and officials have struck a pessimistic tone in public, privately they are more positive. If discussions can make progress in July and August and wrap up in September, EU leaders could be asked to ratify a deal at their scheduled summit in October.
Johnson was expected to tell Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Council President Charles Michel and Parliament President David Sassoli that the deal must be concluded by the end of the summer to ensure there is some certainty for business by the autumn, according to a UK official. The prime minister was expected to say that while the UK wants a free-trade agreement with the EU, it isn’t afraid to walk away at the end of the year without one.
The EU was expected to tell Johnson that the bloc remains united, a European official said. Von der Leyen and Michel will say that while Brussels wants an agreement, it won’t be at the expense of the bloc’s own interests, a second official said.
“During the past negotiation rounds, the UK must have taken note of the EU’s willingness to search for compromises,” the bloc’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, said. “What we now need to make progress are clear and concrete signals that the UK, too, is open to work on an agreement.”
Both sides are still far apart, with each accusing the other of refusing to engage on fundamental issues. The UK still rejects the EU’s demands for a level playing field, which would bind Britain to some European rules in areas such as state aid and environmental law. The two sides are also at odds over law enforcement cooperation and how any agreement should be structured.
Fishing remains a major source of disagreement: the UK has rebuffed the EU’s demand for continued access to British waters on the same terms it enjoys today, and is instead offering to grant permission on an annual basis. The bloc has made a pact on this subject a prerequisite for any deal. Since leaving the EU in January, the UK is bound by the same rules and trades on same terms as it did as a member state until December 31.