Barnier: 'Those who were hoping for negotiations to move swiftly forward this week will have been disappointed. I'm disappointed, concerned and surprised. Once again UK negotiators haven't shown any real willingness to move forward on issues of fundamental importance to the EU.'
Barnier: 'Why should we agree to UK Gov being able to create competitive distortions directed against our companies? Need for LPF isn't going to go away even if UK continues to insist on a low quality agreement. It's a non-negotiable pre-condition to grant access to our market.'
Barnier: 'We hear the British government's concern about maintaining its sovereignty and its regulatory autonomy and we respect that clearly. But no international agreement was ever reached without the parties agreeing to common rules.'
Barnier says 'no progress whatsoever' on fisheries 'still far from agreeing' on governance. He adds this week it felt like talks were going backwards rather than forwards. 'At this stage an agreement seems unlikely. I simply do not understand why we're wasting valuable time.'
