Angela Merkel calls for ‘more realism’ from the UK in Brexit trade deal talks

Angela Merkel has called for more realism from the UK in ongoing Brexit trade deal talks, as Boris Johnson hoped she would help break the deadlock. 

Following the recent round of Brexit negotiations, a spokesman for the German government said the bloc was ready for negotiations to move quickly forward but ‘expressed the need for more realism in London’.

This came following a presentation by the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier to ambassadors from the 27 member states on Friday, the Guardian reported.

But Boris Johnson had hoped that the German Chancellor, and other leaders, would unblock negotiations and help break the deadlock in trade deal talks.

Downing Street were said to have hoped the resolution of the EU’s internal budget and recovery fund debate would allow leaders to intervene.

A UK source close to negotiations said: ‘With the [budget] now wrapped up we hope member states will become more engaged in this process in Brussels and get them moving forward politically in a helpful way.’

The latest round of negotiations in London concluded on Thursday without agreeing on a basic outline of a deal to reassure businesses.

But despite this, sources said Michel Barnier had not been overly pessimistic in his presentation on Friday. 

The EU chief negotiator warned ambassadors that he believed negotiations needed to be concluded by the beginning of October.

Mr Barnier said that even if the deal on offer was ‘low quality’, as recently claimed by the Uk’s chief negotiator David Frost, a ‘zero tariff, zero quota’ agreement was worth claiming. 

He added that if current negotiations are successful, the EU would be open to strike separate agreements and revisit some issues next year.  

After last weeks negotiations, Mr Barnier claimed that the UK was excluding European fleets from vital stocks of fish in a move risking the destruction of the bloc’s fishing industry.

Negotiations remain deadlocked on fishing rights, the deal’s governance and the European Court of Justice’s role. 

Mr Barnier used a press conference to warn that the EU would not accept a deal that resulted in the ‘partial destruction’ of the EU fishing industry, but would continue with talks to ‘the last moment’.

Brussels have also demanded a so-called ‘level playing field’, as neither side seems willing to budge as time runs out for Britain before the July deadline. 

This means the UK could crash out of the customs union and single market without a post-Brexit trade deal with the EU in place before the end of transition.   

It comes soon after it was reported that Britain were close to giving up hope of striking a post-Brexit trade deal with the EU.

The Government is assuming there will not be a deal and expects it will trade with the bloc on WTO terms when the transition period ends on December 31.

Senior sources told The Daily Telegraph that a ‘basic’ agreement remains possible if the European gives ground in the autumn.

Britain is currently bound to EU rules during an 11-month period known as the transition which cannot be extended beyond this year.