France blames Britain's 'unrealistic attitude' for Brexit trade talks stalemate

France slammed Britain for its “intransigent and unrealistic” attitude during the Brexit trade talks, leading to a stalemate after several rounds of negotiations. At a working seminar with French ambassadors in Europe, Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said that the European Union was united as ever to reach as the 27-member bloc prepares for an end of the transition period.

“The negotiations are not advancing because of an intransigent and, let’s be clear, unrealistic attitude of the United Kingdom,” said Le Drian while speaking alongside his German counterpart Heiko Maas.

EU has been issuing readiness notices for weeks, saying the end of the transition period will inevitably create barriers to trade and cross-border exchanges that do not exist today regardless of the outcome of negotiations. The bloc has claimed that there will be broad and far-reaching consequences for public administrations, businesses and citizens as of January 1, 2021, 

“These changes are unavoidable and stakeholders must make sure they are ready for them,” reads the notice.

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Earlier in August, Germany’s European affairs minister Michael Roth said that the UK needs to be more ‘realistic and pragmatic’ in the Brexit negotiations. He said that he was ‘disappointed’ over London drifting apart from the political declaration agreed between both sides as the reliable basis for the negotiations. Roth’s remarks came just a week after German chancellor Angela Merkel asked UK government to show more ‘realism’ during the Brexit negotiations.

Disagreements on fishing provisions

The 27-member bloc has been demanding access to UK fishing waters but the UK has called it incompatible with Britain’s future status as an independent coastal state. David Frost, an EU adviser to British PM, had said that the UK is fully committed to agreeing to the fishing provisions in line with the Political Declaration but can not agree on a deal that is “unbalanced” and against the interests of the UK fishing industry.

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