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The EU should “never have allowed themselves to get to a position where they are now”, according to expert Wolfgang Münchau. The Eurointelligence founder provided an insight into the Brexit negotiations to his podcast listeners. Mr Münchau pointed to a “miscalculation” either EU negotiator Michel Barnier or Prime Minister Boris Johnson could make which he described as “dangerous”.
He said: “The biggest risk to this is a miscalculation.
“It could be the Europeans or it could be the British.
“If somebody thinks they could just win this thing or the other side is going to blink or fold or something like that, that is dangerous.
“Or if Johnson thinks he can push them a little further by just waiting another month, that might just not happen.”
Mr Münchau continued: “We’ve just seen with Turkey, they can’t move that quickly.
“And if they move, they move in very small increments over very long periods of time.
“The idea of shifting and negotiating is already a big deal.
“They should never have allowed themselves to get to a position where they are now.”
The podcast host added: “The position that they have is not really negotiable.
“Likewise the UK has responded by essentially not negotiating.
“The UK has essentially just stuck to its position, to sit there and say, ‘oh, this is unacceptable’.”
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With the transition period deadline fast approaching, efforts to close a trade deal have been turbocharged.
Both Mr Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen have approved a further month of negotiations.
They urged their teams to intensify discussions in the coming weeks.
Mr Barnier and UK Chief Negotiator David Frost are to hold a round on talks in London.
Then there will be a follow-up in Brussels the week after.
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