The joint chair of the EU-UK Joint Committee @MarosSefcovic has told @rtenews the EU was "ready to work until the last minute in making sure we have a very strong partnership + relationship with the UK. Our offer to have a zero quota and zero tariff [FTA] is still on the table."
2/ He said the EU would not agree to a deal "at any cost." He said: "On our side we have the political will to explore all the possibibilties to make sure that we will end up with a very ambitious agreement."
3/ He said at this morning's Joint Committee meeting with @michaelgove they had made "very good progress" on citizens' rights, and a "very substantial discussion" on the NI Protocol
4/ “For that we need to take a lot of very important technical steps. This morning we showed [a] constructive spirit + we will redouble our efforts, intensify the frequency of discussions between now and mid November, when I hope we can meet Chancellor Gove again.
5/ However, he said the EU still regarded the Internal Market Bill as contrary to international law. “We consider it a breach of international law and [that it] went against he letter and spirit of the Withdrawal Agreement, which we signed and ratified, both of us.
6/ “I’m constantly repeating the fact that we have a Joint Committee to solve these kinds of problems. I hope that we can demonstrate we are able to find solutions for this very complex issue...
7/ ...and when we find them then I hope and expect that the very controversial parts of the Internal Market Bill will be withdrawn.”
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