Level playing field

‘We must not lose our calm in the final days of negotiations,’ says Clément Beaune.

EU countries told they may need to adapt to UK demands.

The UK government will likely ignore Holyrood’s decision.

A trade deal would be ‘better for both sides,’ Boris Johnson told Charles Michel on Wednesday.

Pessimism pervades across all EU institutions at the end of the last scheduled round of talks between London and Brussels.

With significant differences remaining between both sides, here are the implications for key policy areas and how they could be resolved.

British PM and Commission president to speak by phone Saturday afternoon.

Simon Coveney tells POLITICO Dublin has US support in opposing UK’s Internal Market Bill.

Efforts to work up new due diligence rules in Berlin are caught in a dispute over how far up the supply chain to press the blame for wrongdoing.

EU negotiator calls move a provocation in meeting with ambassadors.

The EU presents the UK government with an ultimatum but doesn’t torpedo trade talks.

‘We are not going to be a client state,’ said David Frost.

‘Nobody should hope that the European Union will quarrel,’ Economy Minister Peter Altmaier says.

The stalemate is familiar but the rhetoric just gets sharper.

The Latvian will have to resolve a trade war with the US and battle increasing protectionism at home.

Opinion is divided in Brussels over Hogan’s clout in steering relations with the UK.

Both sides issued gloomy assessments at the end of the seventh round of negotiations between the EU and the UK.

With Britain’s other trade talks seeing delays and setbacks, Brussels thinks it has the upper hand, but a breakthrough isn’t imminent.

‘It’s an important relationship but not an easy one,’ says Valdis Dombrovskis.

After creating €5B Brexit support fund, EU27 won’t back off its demands.

Both sides say big differences remain at the end of the fifth round of formal negotiations.

‘I still believe that change can be achieved through trade,’ the German economy minister tells POLITICO.

After virtual summit, von der Leyen calls out Beijing on cyberattacks and demands progress on trade disputes.