Will Britain's deadline for a trade deal with the EU be met?
The mid-October cut-off could prove soft
EARLY LAST month Boris Johnson proposed a deadline of October 15th for a free-trade deal with the European Union. If missed, both sides should “accept that and move on”. Yet he and the European Commission’s president, Ursula von der Leyen, decided on October 3rd to intensify trade talks, even though nobody now expects a deal next week. The EU similarly fixed a deadline of September 30th for Britain to scrap clauses in its internal-market bill to override the Northern Ireland provisions in January’s withdrawal treaty. Yet that date has passed and, although the EU has initiated legal action, negotiations continue.
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Deadline diplomacy”
Britain October 10th 2020
From the October 10th 2020 edition
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