A Brexit trade deal is “imminent” and could be approved by negotiators as early as today or tomorrow, according to a senior EU diplomat, suggesting talks on fisheries are nearing an end.
EU member states have also been told by the European Commission that they may be summoned to a meeting tomorrow to approve any accord, if one is struck today, as another EU diplomat confirmed to The Independent on Wednesday: “We are in the end phase.”
It comes as Christmas was earlier reported to be the new deadline for officials to avoid no-deal, amid warnings from Brussels that an agreement must be signed before the holiday to push it through before the end of the transition.
Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, told MEPs on Tuesday night that he had done all he could to break the deadlock on fishing, with an official present at the meeting saying Mr Barnier warned that the issue now had to be resolved directly by Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen.
