Brussels warns of souring relations with UK over Northern Ireland: @Sam1Fleming and I interviewed #EU #Brexit chief @MarosSefcovic last week, and he went into detail about the frustration on the #EU side with slow progress on the NI protocol talks:

ft.com/content/6db0aa… A few points from the interview:

1) The #EU is still strongly pushing the idea that the #UK should sign a Swiss-style veterinary agreement to resolve problems with GB—>NI checks and controls.

@MarosSefcovic told us that it would "bridge" the current situation.

It’s landed! @MichelBarnier’s #Brexit diaries are published in French today.
@Sam1Fleming and I have been through the 542 pages, armed with coffee and a dictionary: 1/ Here’s our take on it for the @FT, leading on the bewilderment on the #EU side about @BorisJohnson’s negotiating tactics: on.ft.com/33fx0vn

Here are some highlights from the book: 2/

#UK musicians are attacking their loss of rights in the #Brexit deal:

thetimes.co.uk/article/more-t…

Here are some details on the offer #Britain turned down in the #Brexit trade talks: 1/ In March, the #EU included this proposal in a draft of the trade treaty published on its website: Page 354: ec.europa.eu/info/sites/inf…

The @EU_Commission just added another initiative to its long list of existing projects aimed at boosting innovation from #Brussels. This time with an even more impenetrable than usual name: The European Bauhaus: 1/ Now, I must confess, when I think of Bauhaus, I think of this: 2/

#Brexit: @EU_Commission says that it is not ready to take decisions on future ties with the City of London in time for January 1: with @SebastianEPayne @ChrisGiles

ft.com/content/3c07d2…

1/ The @EU_Commission has said in an explanatory doc that it needs more information from the #UK before taking "equivalence" decisions on financial services: ec.europa.eu/commission/pre… 2/

#EU's @MichelBarnier will appear before EU ambassadors by videolink Wednesday morning on a nerve-steadying mission as capitals fret about the compromises that could be made to get a deal with #UK 1/ Bunch of countries including France are increasingly jittery that the EU may give too much away to get a deal over the line. This follows recent EU concessions to facilitate trade in goods 2 /

Here's the full @DavidGHFrost answer on state aid, setting out what #UK is prepared to agree with #EU: 1/ "We have heard what EU has been saying about needing a degree of reassurance and we respect the fact that EU has dropped its original proposal that we should simply adopt the EU state aid system and dynamically align with it … that is now not part of this discussion" 2/

Irked by a question about the #EU's level playing field demands on climate change, @michaelgove cuts across @DavidGHFrost, and makes some comments that are very revealing about how much he can't stand the EU: 1/ "It's important to recognize that some people view the EU as though the commission were Plato's guardian: disinterested upholders of virtue. And that whatever they decree is right..."2/

NEW: Draft #EU plan to maintain access to #UK clearing houses after #Brexit. @EU_Commission decision will safeguard #EU banks' access to LCH etc for 18 months to June 30, 2022: ft.com/content/2de23b…. A short thread: 1/ The plans reflect LCH's dominance in clearing euro-denominated derivatives, and stave off financial stability risks at the end of the #Brexit transition period. Both #ECB and #BOE have warned of this: 2/

One of @MichelBarnier's complaints after the last round of #Brexit talks was that the #UK was seeking mutual recognition of qualifications for service providers on a similar basis to #EU member states. What does that mean? A short thread: 1/ #EU officials say that #Britain wants #UK lawyers and auditors, for example, to be able to operate in the #EU as they do now. "Today there seems to be a real lack of understanding of the automatic, mechanical consequences of leaving the single market," @MichelBarnier said. 2/

#UK's @michaelgove told the @LordsEUCom yesterday that a transition period extension with the #EU would cost "something between £20bn gross and £10bn net". Let's look into that claim: 1/ Mr Gove said that an extension would mean the #UK getting tied up in the #EU's next multi-annual budget, over which it would have no say:"We can’t know what precisely what bill we were to be saddled with, or have to assent to, were we to agree to another year of transition." 2/