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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen gives a press statement following a phone call meeting with Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson, in Brussels, Belgium December 13, 2020. /Reuters
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement Sunday that post-Brexit trade negotiations will continue in Brussels and described her call with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson as "constructive and useful."
"We had a useful phone call this morning," the two leaders said in a joint statement that von der Leyen read out on EU television. "We have accordingly mandated our negotiators to continue the talks and to see whether an agreement can even at this late stage be reached."
"We think it is responsible at this point to go the extra mile," the statement also said, noting that the two sides had discussed "major unresolved topics".
Johnson and von der Leyen gave negotiators a Sunday deadline to find a way to resolve an impasse on arrangements that would guarantee Britain zero-tariff and zero-quota access to the EU's single market.
This came after both had said on Friday that "no deal" was now the most likely outcome.
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European Council President Charles Michel welcomed Sunday's decision. "We must do all we can for a deal to be made possible. We must support a good deal," he said.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel also expressed confidence that an agreement could be reached. "Every opportunity to reach a deal is highly welcome," she said at a news conference in Berlin.
Britain quit the EU in January but remains an informal member until December 31 – the end of a transition period during which it has remained in the EU single market and customs union.
The two sides have struggled to agree on fishing rights in British waters and EU demands that Britain face consequences if in the future it diverges from the bloc's rules for fair competition – what it calls a level playing field.
(With input from Reuters, AFP)
