EU negotiators willing to work on legal agreement with UK – The Times

(Reuters) – European Union negotiators have signaled that they are willing to begin work on a joint legal text of a trade agreement with the UK, ahead of trade talks that resume on Tuesday, The Times reported on Tuesday.

EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier is ready to begin work on a joint draft version of a free trade agreement, known as a “consolidated legal text”, this week, the newspaper reported bit.ly/2EHd1Nr.

Barnier expects Britain’s chief negotiator David Frost to provide more details of fishing quotas and the government’s future subsidy policy, the Times report said, adding that EU has also backed away from a threat to suspend trade and security talks.

Britain left the EU last January and is locked in negotiations on a new trade deal from 2021, as well as on implementing the divorce, as set out in the Withdrawal Agreement, especially on the sensitive Irish border.

Trade talks resume in Brussels on Tuesday. Lasting until Friday morning and also due to cover energy links and transport, they are the final round of negotiations scheduled so far.

Brussels have dropped its demands for the two sides to reach a broad agreement on all the outstanding areas of dispute before drafting a final agreement and expects UK to engage in detailed discussions on post-Brexit fishing quotas and the government’s future subsidy policy, the newspaper said.