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Theater, Brinkmanship Mark Brexit Talks

Jamie Dettmer

   Negotiators on both sides of the English Channel say this week is the
   "moment of reckoning" for a post-Brexit trade deal between the European
   Union and Britain. But after six months of toxic wrangling the odds are
   mounting an agreement will not be struck, both British and European
   officials concede.

   That result that could poison relations between Britain and its near
   neighbors for years to come with far-reaching consequences, not only
   economic but impacted security and intelligence cooperation, too, say
   analysts.

   In the run-up to an eighth round of formal discussions that were to
   start Tuesday in London both sides were locked in an accelerating cycle
   of furious recriminations, accusing each other of negotiating in bad
   faith in talks about Britain's future relationship with the bloc of 27
   European countries.

   British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's chief Brexit negotiator, David
   Frost, said there needs to be "more realism" from Brussels about
   Britain's "status as an independent country."

   Patience wears thin

   Aides of the EU's top negotiator, Michael Barnier, warned patience is
   wearing thin and that European officials are ready to abandon the
   meetings this week in the light of plans by Johnson to unveil new
   legislation that would override key parts of the Brexit Withdrawal
   Agreement, a framework treaty struck last year that set the terms of
   Britain's departure from the EU.

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