December 16 According to Reuters, a spokesman for British Prime Minister Johnson said that on the 15th local time, Johnson reiterated to his senior ministers that the most likely result of the trade negotiations with the European Union would be that an agreement could not be reached, but his team would still try to reach an agreement.
The spokesman said Johnson, in his cabinet team, updated “re-emphasised the desire to reach a free trade agreement, but not at all costs, and reiterated that any agreement must respect Britain’s independence and sovereignty”.
He said that Johnson made it clear that the failure to reach an agreement was still the most likely result, but he promised to continue consultations on the remaining areas of disagreement.
On the other hand, on the 15th local time, Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the British House of Commons, said that in theory, Britain can still ratify any agreement it has reached with the EU after the agreement enters into force, but if it tries to do so, it will face major legal risks.
Asked if the agreement with the EU could be ratified retroactively, he said, “It is theoretically possible if both parties accept to ratify the agreement in a different way.”
However, he also said that doing so would create a gap between British domestic and international law and be vulnerable to legal challenges.
He added: “I haven’t heard anyone talk about ratifying the agreement after December 31.”
Earlier, on the 13th local time, British Prime Minister Johnson and European Commission President von der Leyen agreed to continue Brexit trade negotiations with a view to reaching an agreement by December 31. The 13th was originally the deadline for the UK-EU trade negotiations.
After the two said that they would “make further efforts”, representatives of the United Kingdom and the European Union returned to the negotiating table on the 14th.
At present, the two sides have not set a new deadline for negotiations, but the end date of the Brexit transition period is December 31.
At present, the two thorny issues in the trade negotiations between the United Kingdom and the European Union mainly focus on competition rules and fishing rights.
