An Irish MEP says she’s extremely disappointed with Boris Johnson’s latest approach to Brexit.
The Prime Minister has said he won’t be seeking any deadline extension, despite there appearing to have been no progress in terms of trade agreements made.
Fine Gael MEP for Ireland South, Deirdre Clune says she’s still hopeful that some aspects of a trade deal with Ireland will be reached by the end of this month.
But she told Tipp Today earlier that it’s very worrying:
“The rate of progress in the talks is slow and it’s not very encouraging. He has until the end of this month to seek an extension if he wants to do that, otherwise they’re officially leaving.
“Now, I know we’ve been here before but this period that we’re in is where we negotiate what actual trade agreement we will have with the UK next year, the 1st of January 2021.
“So, it’s particularly important for us in this country. We want zero tarriffs and full access to the UK market and to offer them the same as well.”
MEP Clune concedes that the coroanvirus pandemic has thrown a spanner in the works in many senses when it comes to Brexit negotiations as well.
Speaking on the virus, she says A COVID-19 vaccine can’t become about money:
“There’s a lot of focus on pulling Europe together in our research programmes to develop a vaccine. I think that’s very important.
“I see Germany is leading a programme now in the news today to try and ensure the vaccine is available for all European countries and it’s not just for some, that it’s publicly available.
