Brexit Deadline May Be Hard to Meet, Says EU Commissioner

Dec.27 -- The transition period for the U.K.’s departure from the European Union may need to be extended beyond the end of 2020, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in an interview with Les Echos. Bloomberg's Stuart Wallace reports on "Bloomberg Daybreak: Americas."

[maureen]

They, ve had three years, just playing for time to think some thing up.

[stephennutkin]

Was three years not long enough ?. Of course the panic sets in now that the EU no longer has the help of the leading UK remainers to cancel Brexit.

[gmundenat]

Good. The vote was to leave, that means a clean Brexit.

[malcolmtill]

They have had about three years to sort it out, how long do they want ? No deal sounds fine to me.

[georgewinn]

If means hard brexit because the unelected bureaucrats in Brussels can’t help us get out end of January as agreed then so be it, hard brexit so be it, save us 20 billion?

[johnlindauer]

Absolute nonsense to say "deadline" will be hard to meet. Standard out of touch drivel from an anti-Brexit bureaucrat. Even-handed negotiations will not even start until the UK is out. And it is hard to see any great advantage to the UK over and above trading under WTO rules. Perhaps there are, but the gains will be relatively modest over and above the WTO. The meetings will primarily be held so the "negotiators" can stay in five star hotels and eat in Brussels and London's fine restaurants. We will know they are actually viable if they are held in a neutral location. Any held in Brussels will be for the media and food.

[paulmarchant]

How long did they want? There's nobody on our side able to stand in the way any We just got rid of those anti democratic MPs....

[StreetArtistsOfTheWorld]

Not enough time? Well tough, no deal it is then.
Oh, you suddenly found time did ya?
#EUmustDie
:))))

[royrj]

4 years!!! That's how long they've had...don't know why we have a withdrawal agreement either.

[whysa]

The government need to make it crystal clear to the EU, that any whiff of deliberate stalling and delay on their side, then it will be inferred that the EU are not acting in good faith. Rather their actions will be taken as being in the false hope of getting the UK to opt for a further extension to the transition period ( they have every incentive to do this to keep vast payments of money from the UK flowing ). We should then leave with immediate effect on WTO terms, not wait until December 2020

[jmlfa]

The EU will have a hard time making their dream reality ... Indeed, the UK had an overall trade deficit of -£90 billion with the EU in 2018. The UK is the CUSTOMER not the vendor.

[simondickinson]

Nowadays I get as far as saying “the EU” before I break into laughter. We now have a non-entity without teeth, trying to dictate terms. Laughable.

[ilidiocarmona]

EU/Canada deal 8 years in the making....EU/UK deal less then a year, those brits and their fixation on unicorns!!!

[ChauNguyen-tzzm]

Jeebus.... Its been what? 4 years now. And can't meet end of January deadline. Im pretty sure thats a red flag to not work with an organization so incompetent, and, cause, it's the EU

[interdimentionalwizardwiz]

Adults are able to negotate Fair Deals in Weeks. Perhaps this is not the intention.

[thesheepman]

The Eu ministers can say what they want, if there’s no deal we’re out without a deal

[mrdemocracy]

The EU organisation are going to say that they are panicking now trying delaying tactics.

[sovietunionjack]

Oh Dear, How sad, WTO, Here We Go !

[Airborne-Screaming-Eagles]

Just a bit of yuletide fun to lighten the mood, my slightly altered version of 'War of the World's ' intro with of course a Brexit theme ( try to imagine Richard Burton narrating!)
  No one would have believed in the early years of the 21st century that the UK was being watched by intelligences greater than our own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns, the EU observed and studied, the way a man with a microscope might scrutinize the creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. With infinite complacency, men went to and fro about the UK, confident of our empire over this world.Yet across the gulf of the English channel, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic regarded our Kingdom with envious eyes and slowly, and surely, drew their plans against us..

[trevorcox]

The ball is in our court now. If you delay it's a Hard brexit and WTO

Simples