Sir Keir Starmer will on Friday be urged by European leaders to lift Britain’s provide on youth mobility and fisheries to unlock a take care of the EU at a historic summit between the 2 sides on Monday.
The prime minister is anticipated to carry eleventh hour talks with leaders together with French President Emmanuel Macron and European Fee president Ursula von der Leyen, in a last-ditch effort to finish an deadlock forward of the UK-EU summit in London.
EU negotiators are dangling in entrance of Starmer a greater deal for UK touring artists — a trigger championed by Sir Elton John — and a long-term deal to take away obstacles to agrifood commerce, based on Brussels officers.
In alternate Starmer is being pressed to concede higher phrases for EU college students and different younger individuals desirous to journey to Britain, together with a long-term extension of present fishing rights in UK waters for France and different coastal states.
British officers say they anticipate Starmer to satisfy EU leaders on the margins of a summit of the European Political Group — a pan-European grouping centered on safety points — within the Albanian capital of Tirana.
One EU diplomat mentioned: “There’s a view that, after Brexit, many of the ‘asks’ on this negotiation are British asks.” The Monetary Occasions reported on Thursday that the 27-member bloc needs Starmer to make final minute concessions.
Different EU diplomats warned that the EU-UK reset — set to be signed on the first summit between the 2 sides since Brexit took impact in 2020 — should embody a “fish for meals” swap with Brussels.
“They’ve to just accept a hyperlink between fish and [a food products shipping deal] and they’re refusing,” mentioned one EU diplomat, referring to a sanitary and phytosanitary settlement that would scale back obstacles to commerce in meals, fish merchandise and animals.
The UK has provided to proceed present entry to its fishing grounds for 4 years after 2026, however the EU needs a minimum of seven, officers mentioned. Brussels needs to tie the length of the veterinary deal to the fishing settlement.
A vet deal and one to permit British musicians and artists to tour the EU had been within the Labour manifesto, and Brussels is providing to compromise on the latter.
A senior official informed the FT that it could be prepared to amend the post-Brexit treaty between the 2 to permit British truckers and roadies to maneuver freely between EU international locations in return for a scheme to allow 18 to 30-year-olds to work and examine within the UK extra simply.
Starmer, talking in Tirana on Thursday, mentioned he wouldn’t negotiate with Brussels through “megaphone diplomacy” however insisted: “We’ve made good progress and I’m assured we are going to make actually good progress into Monday.”
The prime minister mentioned {that a} take care of the EU — together with a safety and defence pact — would imply that he had concluded agreements with India, the US and the EU inside the house of three weeks. “That’s extremely helpful for our nation,” he mentioned.
Starmer once more declined to rule out what is anticipated to be a central a part of Monday’s deal: that Britain would settle for shifting Brussels guidelines — and “dynamically align” with new EU rules — as a part of an settlement to interrupt down borders in meals commerce and electrical energy markets.
Conservative chief Kemi Badenoch has criticised Starmer for being prepared to compromise British “sovereignty”. She informed a convention in Brussels that “we are able to enhance our relationship with European international locations, however not by being a supplicant”.
Starmer hit again on the Tory chief, saying: “With out realizing what’s within the take care of the EU, she says she’s in opposition to it. The one saving grace is that no person in Europe takes her severely.”
