EU negotiator Michel Barnier said Thursday that talks with Britain on a post-Brexit trade deal were progressing but that there had been no breakthrough.
"Good progress, but last stumbling blocks remain. We will only sign a deal protecting EU interests and principles," Barnier tweeted after meeting leading MEPs.
After briefing the heads of the European parliamentary groups, Barnier was due to sit down once again with his British counterpart David Frost to press on with talks.
But time is running short to find a trade pact. Britain leaves the EU single market in just two weeks after an 11-month post-Brexit transition.
If there is no follow-on trade agreement, tariffs will be imposed on cross-Channel commerce, fuelling the economic disruption caused by London's departure.
Any trade deal reached by Barnier and Frost will have to be approved by the EU and UK parliaments, and special sessions may have to be held over the end-of-year holidays.
The British parliament is to go into recess on Thursday, but a UK government spokesman said it could be recalled within 48 hours to endorse any deal.
But MEPs in Brussels are concerned that they are running out of time to scrutinise the agreement.
The trade talks have stumbled over how to ensure fair competition between EU and UK businesses once London is free to diverge over time from Brussels' regulations.
And there is a dispute over fishing -- a tiny part of the economy but a totemic issue for some member states, and which the EU has linked to the broader trade deal.
Johnson insists that when Britain leaves the EU single market at the end of the year it will have full control over access to its waters.
AFP
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