No 10 says Brexit transition period won’t be extended despite negotiator contracting coronavirus

EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier. Photograph: Niall Carson/PA. - Credit: PA

Downing Street says the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator contracting coronavirus will not force the transition period to be extended.

Michel Barnier said he was ‘doing well and in good spirits’ in a video message.

He posted on Twitter: ‘I would like to inform you that I have tested positive for #COVID19. I am doing well and in good spirits. I am following all the necessary instructions, as is my team.

‘For all those affected already, and for all those currently in isolation, we will get through this together.’

A second round of talks on the post-Brexit relationship had been due to take place in London on Wednesday but they were scrapped because of the virus outbreak.


Have your say
Send your letters for publication to The New European by emailing letters@theneweuropean.co.uk and pick up an edition each Thursday for more comment and analysis. Find your nearest stockist here or subscribe to a print or digital edition for just £13. You can also join our readers' Facebook group to keep the discussion and debate going with thousands of fellow pro-Europeans.

Discussions have been taking place between officials in Westminster and Brussels about how to proceed with future rounds, possibly through the use of video conference technology.

The prime minister’s official spokesman said: ‘We of course send Michel Barnier our best wishes.

‘In relation to Brexit negotiations… we have been in close conversation with the EU about looking at ways to continue progressing the negotiations.

‘Both sides have shared their texts of potential legal agreements.’

Foreign secretary Dominic Raab said the government remained committed to securing a post-Brexit free trade deal with Brussels by the end of the year.

‘The negotiating texts have been exchanged. I would have thought in the 21st century there is scope for this to be done through teleconferencing and remotely – at least for the period it is required.

‘I won’t go any further than the PM at this point. We don’t want to extend, we want to get this done.

‘We don’t want any more uncertainty than we have already had from this process.’