The risk of a rupture is as big as it was this time last year, when negotiations on Britain’s withdrawal agreement hit a similar moment of truth.
Britain’s lengthy divorce proceedings with the European Union entered a make-or-break phase on Saturday as Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the European Commission president agreed that the two sides shared enough common ground to aim for a final settlement. The announcement, after a video call between Mr. Johnson and the Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, fell well short of a breakthrough, but neither was it a breakdown. Negotiations for a long-term trade agreement, which have ground on inconclusively for months, will now intensify as the two sides scramble to meet a deadline that would allow a deal to be in place on Dec.31. The two leaders agreed that “progress had been made in recent weeks but that significant gaps remained,» according to a statement from 10 Downing Street. “They instructed their chief negotiators to work intensively in order to try to bridge those gaps.” Britain formally left the European Union at the end of January. But under the terms of its withdrawal agreement, it remains part of the bloc’s customs union and single market until the end of the year while the two sides hammer out permanent arrangements on issues like fishing quotas and state aid to industries. While the issues in dispute are technical and even at times tedious, they have profound implications for Britain’s future relationship with the European Union. The risk of a rupture is as big as it was this time last year, when negotiations on the withdrawal agreement hit a similar moment of truth. Mr. Johnson’s intervention in the talks is an important, if long-expected, shift from working-level negotiators to top leaders. In addition to the prime minister and Ms. von der Leyen, much will depend on the role played by Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and President Emmanuel Macron of France. Each has very different political calculations.
