“There is no real sign that our British friends are approaching the negotiations with a plan to succeed,” European Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan said on Thursday. The talks, now focused on setting new trading terms from 2021, when London’s status-quo transition period after Brexit ends, quickly hit an impasse when they resumed last month, Reuters said, citing EU diplomats and officials.
“I am afraid we are only making very slow progress in the Brexit negotiations,” Hogan told Irish broadcaster RTE. “I think that the UK politicians and government have certainly decided that [Covid-19] is going to be blamed for all the fallout from Brexit, and my perception of it is they don’t want to drag the negotiations out into 2021 because they can effectively blame [Covid-19] for everything.”
Hogan warned that the combination of the disruption from both the coronavirus economic shutdown and Brexit will be “an almighty blow” for the British economy this year, and spill over to other countries as well, including Ireland.
A spokesman for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson rejected Hogan’s description of London’s position, saying: “We look forward to negotiating constructively in the next round, beginning on 11 May.”