After two unsuccessful first sessions, in a context weighed down by the COVID-19 pandemic, the United Kingdom and the European Union resumed their negotiations on post-Brexit relations on Monday 11th May. Crystallisation of quarrels over Northern Ireland issues and fishing rights

The fourth round of Brexit negotiations between the European Union and the United Kingdom ended last Friday like the previous three: with a failure. "There has been no significant progress," said Michel Barnier, after a new round of sterile discussions with the British negotiators. Whether it is on fishing rights, on the question of governance or on the ‘level playing field’, each party remained camped on its positions. However, "on all these points, we ask for nothing other than for the Political Declaration to be respected," Michel Barnier declared.

“It is settled,” Minister Michael Gove, number two of the British government, said last Friday, effectively closing the door to any further discussion on the possibility of an extension to the transition period beyond January 1st, 2021. “This brings clarity and certainty for companies and allows them to prepare,'' he insisted during a television interview. And for sceptics who may still doubt the determination of Boris Johnson’s government, Mr. Frost, Britain’s chief negotiator said to British MEPs: "Even if the EU demands it, we will refuse it."