Phil Hogan, EU chief trade negotiator, has warned there are only "four or five" negotiating rounds before the UK has to decide whether or not to extend the transition. Speaking to @rtenews he said the EU wd adopt its negotiating mandate and “we’ll get down to work the day after.”
1/ @PhilHoganEU said the riskiest part of the Brexit process had yet to come and that a “crash-out” Brexit was still a possibility at the end of December.
2/ He said: “I’m very concerned at what I see in Ireland the moment. There’s a lot of complacency in the system. Commentators and the media and the public generally don’t seem to realise we’re starting the most difficult part of the negotiations.
3/ "It was easy enough to get some compromises in phase one, relative to the interests of every member state, and the interests now of the UK with an 80 seat majority.
4/ If things had gone wrong in the first part of the negotiations, you can consider in the context of a general election what this would have meant for manifestos in terms of income, in terms of wages, in terms of jobs, the possible economic rupture in terms of a crash out Brexit
5/ “This this is still on the agenda. The real cut off point is the 31 December 2020, not 31 January. So, people should come out of their slumber is some way and wake up to the reality that we’re in the intensive phase of the negotiations and in the more risky part.”
6/ @PhilHoganEU said “The more [the UK] diverge away from the single market… the more difficult it’s going to be to have a free trade agreement. So, this means there will be a very difficult discussion that we will have to have with the United Kingdom government...
7/ “But we remain optimistic at the end of the day [that we will] have the necessary trade-offs to strike a deal that’s good for the EU, good for Ireland and good for the United Kingdom.
8/ “So, creating the level playing field, being as close as possible to the EU at the moment, is going to mitigate a lot of problems. That’s up to the UK to make that choice. This is what the EU want, to be as close as possible in our trading relationship with the United Kindgom.
9/ He said: “Both sides have cards to play, but perhaps the UK doesn’t realise the EU might have more cards to play. So, time will tell in the context of the negotiations how the relationship will be, or the mood music in the negotiations.”
10/ Mr Hogan described this week as “a sad moment for the EU,”
He told @rtenews: “Many Irish people will be very sad at the outcome, that we do not have our nearest neighbour as part of the same negotiating team. For so many years we were always on the one side.”
He told @rtenews: “Many Irish people will be very sad at the outcome, that we do not have our nearest neighbour as part of the same negotiating team. For so many years we were always on the one side.”
@rtenews [to clarify: the EU would adopt its mandate *on Feb 25* and "we'll get down to work the day after"]
