The European Union and UK have concluded their fourth round of talks on a post-Brexit trade deal and other aspects of their future relations. The negotiations took place from Tuesday 2 June 2020 to Friday 5 June 2020.

The four-day negotiations by video conference saw the officials from the two blocs trying to make headway after the last three rounds yielded little progress. Chief EU negotiator, Michel Barnier has said that there have been no significant areas of progress in latest round of trade negotiations with the UK. Addressing a press conference on Friday 5 June, he also stated that there was no progress on fisheries, level playing field, governance, but more constructive discussions on police and judicial cooperation.

Stating the UK side, Chief UK negotiator, David Frost has released a statement saying that progress remains limited, however the negotiations were in a positive tone. He has also stated that the negotiations need to be concluded in good time to enable people and businesses to have clarity regarding the trading terms that will follow the end of the transition.

Mr. Barnier has reiterated that the EU are still open to extending the transition by one or two years. However, if there is no joint decision, the UK will leave the single market and customs union in less than seven months’ time. Referring to the UK’s command paper on Approaching the NI Protocol, Mr. Barnier says that while it is useful, there are a lot of details still to be decided, if they want to move from “aspiration to operation”.

Mr. Barnier said that both parties should hopefully be able to meet face to face by the end of June, before a “high-level” summit later in June.