The Brexit negotiations have maintained a familiar pattern, even if the format has changed. Negotiating sessions come and go, both chief negotiators issue polite but downbeat assessments on progress.
This week, Mr Gove repeated that the UK was committed to "working hard to find an early understanding on the principles underlying an agreement out of the intensified talks process during July". One Brussels source said: "If the Brits really want to land some time in the summer with a political outline of things, they really need to show some opening. "The problem there is that neither Johnson nor [UK chief negotiator David] Frost have prepared their cabinet or troops for any decent landing zone which is outside the Tory manifesto."
Privately, EU officials acknowledge that the UK is not going to accept a role for the ECJ in the future agreement. Exempting the UK from ECJ arbitration will be a bridge too far, and could even be subject to legal challenge. In return, the UK would have enhanced access to the single market, knowing it would be treated like any other member state when it came to state aid.
Officials point to the case of Nissan. In May, the car manufacturer closed its plant in Barcelona with the loss of 3,000 jobs. While Boris Johnson’s government hasn’t spelt out its plans, a clue might be found in a document the Conservative Party circulated during the December general election . "None of that is in the devolution settlement," said George Peretz QC, who has written extensively on state aid. "There’s no control whatsoever on the Scots suddenly deciding they want a new bit of regulation that just happens to favour Scottish suppliers. It’s simply not there.
"The actual translation of what’s been agreed in principle into legal text is far from insignificant. It’s time consuming." This time around, there is not yet a joint draft text. The EU believes that both sides need to start working on such a text by late August if all the work is to be done by 31 October, the deadline for a deal.
"There is no way the European Parliament will generously help the UK, or the [European] Council, and say, don’t worry we will wrap this up in a week just because the member states have agreed to it," said one senior official. "That’s not going to happen."That itself has yet to be agreed. The EU is demanding one overall treaty, comprising a fully elaborated free trade agreement , with other chapters that can be "built on" in the future.
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