The Brexit talks are back on. Here's a quick reaction to what both sides have agreed following the talks about talks. The Joint Statement on Organising Principles is here: europa.eu/!pt67gX
2/ This is certainly the "intensification" the UK was looking for. As well as speed + both sides working all the hours, there are wonderfully architectural structures: a Joint Secretariat, workstreams, two/three column tables, consolidated texts, convergence, restricted formats
3/ But there are reassurances for both sides. The UK has complained that the EU did not want to start work on legal texts; the EU response was that closing off texts risked leaving fisheries as the final issue, something member states wanted to avoid.
4/ Both sides had presented their own draft legal texts, of course. The EU published its on March 18 ec.europa.eu/info/sites/inf…

The UK published its approach to the negotiations on Feb 27 gov.uk/government/pub…
5/ Both teams will now start jointly drafting texts across the various negotiating files. The statement acknowledges that more high level political treatment will be needed for the difficult issues: level playing field, fisheries and governance.
6/ Interestingly, energy and goods/services have been added to the list of difficult stuff. On energy, see my report on @rtenews from last Thursday rte.ie/news/brexit/20…
7/ On all the other stuff, there had already been progress and landing zones were in sight. So while the EU has conceded that work can begin on legal texts, officials say that such little time remains that it makes sense anyway. The UK side will see this as a win.
8/ Such areas include police and judicial cooperation, UK participation in EU programmes such as Horizon and Erasmus. One EU diplomat says these are "offensive" areas for the UK, meaning something London is looking for
9/ The statement also makes clear that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. That potentially gives the EU some leverage when it comes to the level playing field, governance and fisheries
10/ This breakthrough has not really moved the dial at all on those 3 issues. The EU will still demand the UK accept its vision on LPF, esp state aid: not that the UK follows EU rules, but that there's a legal mechanism that gives the EU assurances on subsidies and standards
11/ That would include a robust, independent competition regulator that will constrain UK subsidy spending, and the ability for EU firms, and UK ones, to take action through UK courts if there is an alleged breach of subsidy rules by either side etc
12/ But on the less contentious areas, progress should be relatively straightforward. "We know the texts we’ve produced ourselves, we are certainly aware of what the UK wants. So I think there won’t be any surprises," says an EU diplomat.
13/ The UK can show that Boris Johnson's threat to pull the plug delivered results and a souped up schedule and structure. The real hard bargaining is now in front of us.

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More from @tconnellyRTE

19 Oct
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
Read 7 tweets
19 Oct
BREAKING: The EU is seeking to have some 15 customs + veterinary staff working alongside UK officials at NI ports to ensure the proper implementation of the NI Protocol, @rtenews understands. In return the EU would drop an earlier request to have a physical office in Belfast.
2/ The issue was raised during a meeting this morning of the EU-UK Joint Committee which officials have described as positive and constructive.

One official cautiously described the encounter in London as a potential “turning point” in the process
3/ The JC was set up under the Withdrawal Agreement as the high level political forum to implement the treaty, including the NI Protocol. The Protocol provides for customs/regulatory formalities on goods arriving in NI from Great Britain as a way to avoid a hard land border.
Read 14 tweets
16 Oct
Taoiseach Micheal Martin has responded to @BorisJohnson's declaration that British businesses should prepare for no deal:
Martin said an agreement can be reached btwn the EU + UK and that on the basis of @MichelBarnier's presentation yesterday there was "clearly room for a deal"
2/ He added: “From an objective analysis, it would seem to me that anybody looking in would say, there is the basis of an agreement, clearly not an agreement at any price.”
3/ .@MichealMartinTD said there remained a number of outstanding areas of disagreement, such as fisheries, the level playing field and governance.
Read 5 tweets
16 Oct
Quick take from Brussels on @BorisJohnson’s No Deal threat:
Officials are relatively relaxed. Note @vonderleyen tweet saying that negotiations will resume on Monday, ie business as usual...
Ongoing bemusement over the line that the EU has refused to grant the UK a “Canada-style FTA”. Canada was never the model, say officials, as that would have meant a line by line negotiation on tariffs
Read 9 tweets
16 Oct
The EU is considering making a more explicit link between energy and fish as the Brexit negotiations enter a critical phase, @rtenews understands.
2/ A number of sources have confirmed that the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier will seek to use the leverage of the EU’s energy market as a potential way of unblocking the UK’s resistence to granting European fishing fleets ongoing access to British waters.
3/ It’s understood Mr Barnier has privately acknowledged a potential link between continued access to the EU’s energy market – which diplomats say is potentially highly valuable to the UK – and the fisheries aspect of the negotiations, which remains deadlocked.
Read 17 tweets
15 Oct
Taoiseach Micheal Martin says there remain "difficulties and challenges" in securing an overall Brexit deal, and that there hasn’t yet been sufficient movement from the UK on the level playing field, governance and fisheries to suggest a deal could be done.
2/ He was speaking after @MichelBarnier briefed leaders at the #euco on the state of play in the negotiations
3/ Martin said the UK Internal Market Bill had strengthened the EU's resolve to ensure a robust dispute settlement mechanism.
Read 9 tweets

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