European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson are set to hold a telephone call in a last-minute effort to break the deadlock over a post-Brexit trade deal.
A statement by the two leaders is expected around 12:30 GMT on Sunday, according to British media reports.
Meanwhile, EU sources told Reuters news agency that European Union and United Kingdom negotiators have made some progress on narrowing their differences in trade talks, but there has been no decisive breakthrough on fair competition or fishing rights.
“They are making inroads on some difficult stuff. How to manage divergence and soften the blow for [EU] fishermen is still open,” an EU diplomat said.
Earlier on Sunday, Britain’s main negotiator David Frost held talks with his EU counterpart Michel Barnier at the European Commission building in Brussels.
Britain left the EU on January 31, but remains in its economic structures until a transition period ends on December 31. However, tensions regarding arrangements that would guarantee Britain zero-tariff and zero-quota access to the EU’s single market are rising.
A no-deal split would bring overnight tariffs and other barriers that would hurt both sides, although most economists think the smaller British economy would take a greater hit because the United Kingdom does almost half of its trade with the bloc.
Al Jazeera’s Paul Brennan said there are no expectations for a firm day today. “The expectation is that it will go one of two ways,” he said, speaking from Brussels.
“It will either be a no-deal, that the two leaders will agree they frankly reached the end of the road and that they are too far apart. The other possibility is that they will agree that there is still a glimmer of light and they will carry on talking.”
‘Long way to go’
Whether it’s a negotiating ploy or not, Johnson has publicly said the UK would still thrive mightily if there is no deal and it was “very, very likely” that negotiations on a new relationship that will take effect on January 1 will fail.
Speaking to Britain’s Sky News on Sunday, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said a no-deal Brexit could still be avoided if the EU accepts Britain’s right to be treated like “any other independent self-respecting democracy.”
“What really matters is what the EU is willing at a political level to commit to,” Raab said. “There is still I think a long way to go.”
Meanwhile, Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin, whose economy is more entwined with Britain’s than any other EU state, said he “fervently” hoped the talks wouldn’t end on Sunday.
“It is absolutely imperative that both sides continue to engage and both sides continue to negotiate to avoid a no-deal,” Martin told the BBC. “A no-deal would be very bad for all of us.
UK gov’t’s optimism not shared by others
Speaking from Westminster, Al Jazeera’s Babara Serra said the situation in the UK is tense, with some newspapers putting the chance of a no-deal Brexit at 80 percent.
“Overnight the country released contingency plans saying they will spend around $5bn trying ease the little bit of congestion that could come from a no-deal Brexit,” Serra said.
“Certainly the government is trying to sound upbeat. They’ve said they have prepared for all of the possible worst-case scenarios and that the UK is ready.”
However, Serra said that optimism is not shared by a lot of people.
“Supermarkets are worried,” she explained. “Food producers have said there could be a shortage of vegetables for the next three months so supermarkets should stockpile, and of course there are fears that that could cause some panic-buying here in the UK.”
On Saturday, Britain took the dramatic step of announcing that armed naval vessels will patrol its waters from January 1 to exclude European crews from the fisheries they have shared, in some cases for centuries.
Brussels’ tone has been less bellicose, and von der Leyen has made it clear the EU will respect UK’s sovereignty after Britain’s post-Brexit transition period, but neither side is yet ready to compromise on its core principles
Without a trade deal, cross-Channel trade will revert to the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, with tariffs driving up prices and generating paperwork for importers.
A failed negotiation may poison relations between London and Brussels for years to come.
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