Britain & EU may still strike Brexit trade deal that both ‘can live with’ – Irish FM

A no-deal Brexit is not in the European Union’s strategic interests, Ireland’s foreign minister said on Friday, as his German counterpart claimed UK-EU talks may go beyond the deadline set for Sunday.

Ireland’s FM Simon Coveney warned that if London and Brussels fail to sign a post-Brexit trade accord, it would not strengthen Brussels’ position in any future talks.

“Anybody who thinks no deal now is in the EU’s strategic interests because in six or 12 months time, when we start talking to the UK about putting in place a new agreement, that somehow the EU’s hand will be strengthened, I don’t think that shows an understanding of a British mindset,” Coveney said in Berlin.

“I think the United Kingdom will try and make whatever the outcome is in the next few days and weeks work, whether it’s a deal or no deal,” he noted, adding that all of the focus now should be “on getting a deal done that both sides can live with and work with.”

The minister was speaking alongside his German counterpart, Heiko Maas, who, in turn, said Britain and the EU may have to continue negotiations to secure a deal on the future trade ties beyond the deadline set for Sunday.

“In the end, the talks will not fail because a few days more are needed,” Maas said.

The deadline was determined during a meeting between British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday.

The three most contentious issues remaining are fisheries, economic fair play and a mechanism to settle disputes.

Coveney was in Berlin on Friday to mark the symbolic handover of Germany’s membership of the United Nations Security Council to Ireland, which takes its seat on the UNSC on January 1 next year.

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