EU has upper hand in Brexit trade talks, says Irish PM

DUBLIN • Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar yesterday said the EU will have the upper hand in trade talks with the UK, as the bloc's chief negotiator warned of the risk of a disruptive cliff-edge Brexit for business at the end of the year.

Britain leaves the EU on Friday, and the two sides will formally begin trade talks in the coming weeks during a "business as usual" transition period that ends in December.

Mr Varadkar, in an interview with the BBC, compared the two sides to soccer teams and suggested that the EU would have the "stronger team" due to its larger population and market.

He also questioned British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's timetable of striking a deal by the end of the year, the BBC reported.

"The European Union is a union of 27 member states. The UK is only one country. And we have a population and a market of 450 million people," he told the BBC.

When asked about Mr Johnson's aim of getting a deal by the end of 2020, the Irish leader said: "It will be difficult to do this."

To get a trade deal, the United Kingdom would have to give legal assurances that it would not undercut the EU, he added.

Mr Varadkar also met the EU's chief Brexit negotiator, Mr Michel Barnier, in Dublin.

Mr Barnier stressed that the level of access that UK products can continue to enjoy in the bloc will be proportionate to the commitments London makes on EU rules, particularly in relation to state aid.

"It is Britain's choice," Mr Barnier told a joint news conference with Mr Varadkar. "If we have no agreement, it will not be business as usual and the status quo, we have to face the risk of a cliff edge, in particular for trade."

Mr Varadkar said there will have to be some checks on goods going from Britain into Northern Ireland, despite Mr Johnson's repeated insistence that these will not be needed.

Mr Johnson's willingness to allow some EU regulations to apply in British-ruled Northern Ireland to prevent the need for a border on the island was the crucial concession he offered last year to obtain a withdrawal deal with the bloc.

After reaching agreement on that deal, he called an election and won a strong majority.

Mr Barnier said the EU will "very carefully" watch over the implementation of the agreement's Northern Ireland protocol.

The chief EU negotiator also said he would present a draft negotiating mandate to the bloc's member states next Monday.

EU ministers are then set to agree their joint mandate on Feb 25, ahead of a meeting of the European Council in March.

Meanwhile, EU officials have also expressed concern over the trade negotiations.

London indicated earlier this month that it could seek a piecemeal post-Brexit deal with the EU that leaves some issues unresolved but still lets it break free from the bloc at the end of the year.

But the Irish Premier, in a reference to securing only a partial deal by the end of the year, said: "When I hear people talk about piecemeal, it sounds a bit like cake and eat."

He added: "That isn't something that will fly in Europe."

A senior EU diplomat told Reuters: "Trade talks is one thing but there is also the implementation of the Withdrawal Agreement. If the latter doesn't go well, how could we trust them to meet their obligations under any future FTA (free trade agreement)?".

Mr Varadkar himself faces the voters in an election on Feb 8. Polls have shown his Fine Gael party trailing its main rival, Fianna Fail.

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE