EU draws up plans for quick-fire trade deal after Boris Johnson moves to legally rule out extending Brexit transition
BORIS Johnson's move to legally rule out extending the transition hit home in Brussels as EU chiefs drew up plans for a quick-fire trade deal.
EU negotiators will respond to the PM's ultimatum with phased talks that will see a tariff and quota free agreement on goods in place by the end of 2020.
Both sides would then apply interim measures for other areas - like services and security - while the future relationship is fleshed out in stage two.
The PM will meet Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen next month to kickstart negotiations - but she's sceptical the time frame is realistic.
She congratulated the PM's election triumph in a phone call and the pair agreed to work together with "great energy to agree a future partnership by December 2020," a Downing Street source said.
Trade boss Sabine Weyand said the bloc was taking the PM's pledge "seriously" and would focus on areas where no deal "would lead to a cliff-edge".
But Ireland's deputy PM Simon Coveney called the move a “strange decision” that would see the “UK deciding to tie itself in terms of options”.
He said: “The EU hasn’t missed a deadline yet, it has been the UK that has missed deadlines in the past.
"If we’ve learned anything from the first round of Brexit negotiations, it is that we shouldn’t be closing off options."
'RUSHING DECISION'
Privately EU officials and diplomats were sceptical that the pledge is watertight - describing it as post-election posturing.
And they warned "rushing a decision" on the shape of the future relationship could end in a "bad outcome" for both sides.
Senior EU figures also stressed any tariff and quota free trade will have to come with commitments from the UK not to undercut European standards.
German MEP Manfred Weber, head of the powerful centre-right EPP group, said: "After overcoming the first cliff edge, the next is ahead of us.
"If you want to have access to our market you have to respect our criteria for producing and selling product."
Phillippe Lamberts, a Belgian MEP who leads the Greens in the EU Parliament, said the PM could "forget about" having a full deal by the end of next year.
He said: "A bare bones agreement means there will be border checks. It will be a spanner in the works of pan-European supply chains.
“It’s going to be a cliff edge, but a chosen one. Of course that will have consequences for the British people."
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The EU Parliament will have to ratify any trade deal with the UK - as will all 27 national chambers and even some regional ones.
Diplomats said the tight time frame imposed by the PM would help focus minds and squeeze out room for capitals to pursue national interests.
One said: "Johnson is doing us a favour - this law minimises the chances of our unity breaking."
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