Brexit negotiations stall out over financial issues

The European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier gave the United Kingdom a hard deadline of two weeks to come to an agreement on financial commitments in the sixth round of Brexit negotiations.    The sixth round of Brexit negotiations between the United Kingdom and the European Union has resulted in a two-week deadline, given by the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier to the U.K., to receive “vital” clarification on the financial commitments from an otherwise unproductive Brexit.
   The lack of concrete proposals to avoid border checks on the Irish border has both Ireland and the EU worried that the U.K. could undermine the 1998 Good Friday peace pact or even result in a hard exit. Many EU and U.K. businesses have begun the early transition to a post-Brexit landscape where the outcome is a no-deal scenario – a possibility that is increasingly becoming more of a reality. 
   The Irish prime minister has demanded a five-year transition period and requested that Ireland remain within the single market and customs union of the EU, even after the U.K. officially leaves, multiple reports said. However, at a joint press conference in Brussels on Friday, the U.K.’s Brexit secretary David Davis requested for flexible deadlines, but rejected the suggestion that Northern Ireland could stay within the customs union or the single market, according to a report from the  The Guardian.
   “We respect the European Union’s desire to protect the legal order of the single market and customs union. But that cannot come at cost to the constitutional and economic integrity of the United Kingdom,” said Davis.
   Although there would need to be “specific solutions” for the unique position of Northern Ireland, Davis said, “this cannot amount to creating a new border inside our United Kingdom.” The EU has said that the Ireland question can be treated similar to that of Hong Kong, which is part of China but also individual members of the WTO, The Guardian reported.
   It has been 500 days since Britain voted to leave to EU and key issues have yet to be decided upon – namely, the divorce bill, citizens’ rights and the Irish border, Barnier said. EU leaders need to decide at a summit on Dec. 14 and 15 whether sufficient progress has been made on these issues in order for talks to move on to future relations.