LONDON • British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said no British prime minister could accept the European Union's Brexit demands as he was heading to Brussels for a showdown with the European Commission's Ursula von der Leyen yesterday.
The face-to-face conversation between Mr Johnson and the Commission president is an attempt to inject political impetus into the stalled negotiations.
If it goes well, negotiators could be back in a room hammering out the details within hours.
If it goes badly, officials on both sides fear the chances of a deal being ready before the end of this month - when the Brexit transition period ends - will fade away.
"Our friends in the EU are currently insisting that if they pass a new law in the future with which we in this country do not comply or don't follow suit, then they want the automatic right to punish us and to retaliate," Mr Johnson told members of Parliament.
"They're saying we should be the only country in the world not to have sovereign control over its fishing waters. I don't believe that those are terms any prime minister of this country should accept."
He also said "a good deal is still there to be done" and that he was looking forward to discussing it with Dr von der Leyen at dinner.
The main sticking points in the Brexit stalemate have been over fishing rights in British waters, ensuring fair competition for companies on either side and ways to solve future disputes.
Mr Johnson's meeting with Dr von der Leyen won't be a negotiation, but rather "a conversation between two political leaders trying to assess where they both stand," Mr Johnson's press secretary Allegra Stratton told reporters.
"The Prime Minister is going to be clear this evening that he can't accept anything that undermines our ability to control our laws or control our waters."
Ms Stratton also stressed that the UK won't extend the negotiations into 2021.
In response to Mr Johnson's speech, EU Financial Services Commissioner Mairead McGuinness said yesterday that the European Commission is preparing specific and very narrowly focused contingency plans to prepare for the possibility of a no-deal Brexit.
"I think there is a failure to understand, which perhaps is a failure of Brexit at the very outset, if you choose to leave, there are consequences, particularly where that country wants to stay part of the single market," she added on the chances of a trade deal.
Failure to reach a deal by Dec 31 would affect the US$1 trillion (S$1.33 trillion) in annual trade from tariffs and quotas and sow chaos through supply chains across Europe and beyond.
Mr Johnson portrays Brexit as a chance to give Britain an independent and more agile economy.
EU powers fear London wants the best of both worlds - preferential access to EU markets but with the advantage of being able to set its own rules.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said: "We must have a level playing field, not just for today but for tomorrow and beyond, and for that we must agree how we can react when the other changes his legal situation.
"Otherwise, unfair competition conditions arise to which we cannot subject our companies."
Britain said on Tuesday it had clinched a deal with the EU that would exempt as much as 98 per cent of goods flowing between Britain and Northern Ireland from tariffs from Jan 1.
But in an interview with the Irish Times, Prime Minister Micheal Martin said he is "on the pessimistic side" about the prospects for a deal.
BLOOMBERG, REUTERS
