In February 2020, the UK government published the UK's approach to the negotiations in a document presented by the prime minister to Parliament titled
The Future Relationship with the EU. The draft EU negotiating position was published on 3 February. The UK expected to have a Canada-style agreement, while the EU considered proximity and the size of its trade made a Canada-style trade deal dependent on UK adoption of "level playing field" measures. The European mandate was published on 25 February 2020, while the UK's mandate was published on 27 February 2020. Ten rounds of negotiations were planned every three weeks, alternately in Brussels and in London.
March 2020 The first official meeting was scheduled for the afternoon of the Monday 2 March 2020.
The Guardian anticipated that the 'flash-points' would be "the level playing field' (on workers' rights, environmental protection, product safety standards and state aid), fisheries, dispute resolution, financial services, security and law enforcement, foreign policy and defence, cross-border transport, science and research". It was expected that the first rounds deals with regulatory standards and fisheries. It is understood that if those points are not agreed by the end of June, both sides will break off negotiations to concentrate on
no deal preparedness. Barnier reported 'grave differences' between the sides, citing in particular the UK's reluctance to commit formally to continued participation in the (non-EU)
European Convention on Human Rights as a serious obstacle to security and criminal intelligence cooperation. Both sides have been exploring alternative ways to continue discussions, including if possible the use of video conferences. it was then published on 18 March. In late March, it emerged that negotiations had been abandoned as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, that negotiating via video-conferencing had not proved practicable, and that the British side had failed to table a legal draft that the sides could work on. At the end of March, the UK side declared that it had shared its text, while concerns grew about the realism of a timetable set before the pandemic. It also emerged that the UK had rejected an EU request for a permanent technical office in Belfast, saying that the request would go "beyond what is stipulated in the withdrawal agreement". (Article 12 of the Ireland Protocol states that the UK government is "responsible for implementing and applying the provisions of [EU] law" but EU officials "shall have the right to be present during any activities" relating to checks and controls). commentators began increasingly to question the practicality of the UK's timetable. Amanda Sloat, a senior fellow at
Brookings Institution remarked "In all circumstances it's very difficult to imagine how some sort of large scale trade deal between the U.K. and the EU gets done by the end of the year." Preliminary negotiations resumed on 15 April, limited to agreeing the phasing of subsequent negotiations to end in June 2020. (The deadline for completing negotiations is 30 June 2020). Briefing journalists at the end of the week, Barnier expressed disappointment and frustration at the lack of progress made. In a comment to
The Guardian, "a UK spokesman openly questioned the value of the deal being offered by Brussels when compared with a no-deal outcome". According to
The Guardian, "there is recognition on both sides of the talks that there is little prospect of agreement on the most contentious issues without a major reset of positions".
The Financial Times summarised the week's negotiations as "serv[ing] to underline [...] that the UK and the EU are seeking to negotiate fundamentally different projects".
May 2020 On 13 May, the UK announced that it was moving to establish
Border Control Posts at
Belfast Harbour,
Larne, and
Warrenpoint to manage livestock and agrifood products, in accordance with the
Northern Ireland Protocol in the withdrawal agreement. The withdrawal agreement specifies that Northern Ireland will continue to follow
European single market rules on agricultural and manufactured goods. While these talks were in progress, responsible Cabinet Minister
Michael Gove raised the question of whether an agreement based on quotas and tariffs (like the EUCanada
CET Agreement) might be a better option, but EU sources dismissed the idea of agreeing to terms in the time available. On 19 May, the UK Government published its draft text for the deal. In late May,
The Guardian reported that the Fisheries Committee of the European Parliament had "threatened that it would veto any deal that did not include a 'balanced agreement' on fishinq quotas".
June 2020 The early June round of negotiations again ended with 'no significant progress', but the
Financial Times reported, "afterwards both sides showed fresh signs of a willingness to compromise to get a deal". The EU side indicated 'flexibility' over the application of its
State aid rules, and the UK did likewise over accepting some
tariffs. The month ended with the expiry of the deadline for the UK to request an extension to the transition period. No such request was made.
July 2020 Face-to-face negotiations beginning 29 June and due to run to 3 July broke up in acrimony on 2 July, with no progress being made. Earlier that week, senior British industrialists warned Prime Minister Johnson of "hugely damaging consequences of a 'no-deal Brexit'". A further round of negotiations ending on 23 July was again deemed fruitless by both parties, with the prospect of "no deal" deemed increasingly likely but not inevitable.
August 2020 The August round of negotiations ended on 21 August, with "little progress" being made. EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier, noting how little time remained, said that it "seems unlikely" that an agreement can be reached.
September 2020 At the beginning of September, the chief negotiators met informally in London to discuss their lack of progress, but there was "no breakthrough". Both sides say that is increasingly unlikely that an agreement can be reached before the deadline. Johnson declared on 7 September that unless an agreement was in place by 15 October, there would be
no deal. Barnier had already said (on 26 August) that agreement would have to be reached by 31 October for the Council and both Parliaments to ratify it in time (end December). The negotiation climate changed when
The Financial Times reported on 6 September that the UK government planned to draw up new legislation that would bypass the
withdrawal agreement, in particular the
Northern Ireland Protocol. The government defended the move, saying the legislation was compliant with the protocol and merely "clarified" ambiguity in the protocol.
Ursula von der Leyen warned Johnson not to break international law, saying that the UK's implementation of the withdrawal agreement was a "prerequisite for any future partnership".
The Guardian reported, based on cables sent to member states, that the commission has a growing mistrust in the UK government and its motives and strategies. The bill was published, with explanatory notes, on 9 September 2020. The next day, Thursday 10 September 2020, the vice-president of the EU–UK Joint Committee, European Commissioner
Maroš Šefčovič, in an extraordinary meeting in London delivered the EU's concern to
Michael Gove, stating that an adoption of the bill "would constitute an extremely serious violation of the Withdrawal Agreement and of international law". The EU demanded the withdrawal of the bill by the end of September, adding "the European Union will not be shy" in using the mechanisms and legal remedies to address violations of the legal obligations contained in the
Brexit withdrawal agreement. Informal talks resumed during the week ending 18 September, but there were no formal announcements or open briefings; nevertheless the UK side let it be known that "some limited progress" had been made between the teams.
October 2020 On 1 October, the Commission sent to the UK Government "a letter of formal notice for breaching its obligations under the Withdrawal Agreement" because the latter's refusal to remove the contentious clauses in the UK Government's
Internal Market Bill. The letter marks "the first step of an infringement process". Ireland's foreign minister,
Simon Coveney, had observed earlier that week that many of the EU's concerns would "fade away" if a trade deal was secured. However, there were "persistent serious divergences on matters of major importance for the European Union", specifically "solid, long-term guarantees of open and fair competition", "robust enforcement and dispute settlement mechanisms, as well as effective remedies" and "a stable, sustainable and long-term agreement on fisheries". the Council stated its assessment "that progress on the key issues of interest to the Union is still not sufficient for an agreement to be reached", and "call[ed] on the UK to make the necessary moves to make an agreement possible". The next day, the UK Government responded that "there will be no more trade and security talks unless the EU adopts a fundamental change of approach" and that the UK would prepare to trade on
WTO terms. "The trade talks are over [the] EU effectively ended them yesterday when they said they did not want to change their negotiating position", a spokesperson told
The Guardian. but they will keep channels of communication open. Summarising the state of negotiations at the end of the month,
The Financial Times reporter wrote that "people involved in the negotiations said intensive talks in London earlier this week had delivered substantial progress in drafting the text of a deal, but that real breakthroughs on the outstanding issues remained elusive."
November 2020 On 8 November, Johnson said that the outlines of an agreement were clear and a deal was there to be done. On 20 November, von der Leyen said there had been more movement on problematic issues after difficult weeks with very, very slow progress. Despite intensive talks continuing through the week-end of 28/29 November, the month ended without a resolution on the two sticking points: fishing rights and dispute resolution on state aid. According to
ITV News, "Progress is understood to have been made across many areas, yet significant gaps are said to remain on the EU's access to UK fishing waters when the transition period ends on December 31."
December 2020 On 4 December, negotiators Barnier and Frost announced that they had been unable to reach an agreement and had referred the question to their superiors. On 5 December, Johnson and von der Leyen discussed the impasse and agreed that their negotiators should make a further attempt next day. These talks did not break the deadlock and on 9 December, Johnson and von der Leyen met face to face. After a discussion described as 'frank' and without evident breakthrough, the negotiators were ordered to resume until 13 December when both sides would decide whether there would be any value in continuing. Following a phone call between Johnson and von der Leyen on 13 December, both sides released a joint statement mandating their negotiators to continue talks with no stated deadline. On 17 December, the leaders of the main political groupings of the European Parliament (except Greens) declared Sunday 20 December as the latest possible date for a draft agreement to be presented for their consideration and possible ratification by the year's end. This deadline too, was missed. Should the negotiators achieve an agreement before the transition period expires, the
Council of Ministers and the British
Cabinet may need to give provisional approval if a no-deal exit is to be avoided; such approval will be subject to subsequent consideration and ratification (or rejection) by European and British parliaments in 2021. On 28 December, the European Union ambassadors unanimously approved the draft agreement, clearing the way for it to be operated provisionally with effect from 1 January. On 30 December, the United Kingdom's
House of Commons approved the agreement with the European Union by 521 votes to 73. ==Main topics==