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Thank you. Good evening everyone.
Firstly, I would like to thank President Charles Michel for joining me at this press conference. Obviously Ursula von der Leyen cannot be here as intended, for reasons of which you are aware. She has asked me personally to attend on her behalf. And I can tell you that she is following these negotiations very closely with her team – and our team, which is also hers – as she did only yesterday evening in discussions with Charles Michel and Boris Johnson. And she will of course continue to be in contact with the UK prime minister as often as necessary.
We are absolutely determined to reach a fair deal with the UK. We will do everything we can, but not at any price – as mentioned by Charles Michel right now. My team, our team, and I will continue intensive discussions over the coming weeks. Our positions have been crystal clear from day one of this negotiation. If you want access to our market of 450 million people, there must be a level playing field. There must be free and fair competition. It is clear from today's meeting that there is a very full unity between all Member States. We will remain calm, united, determined.
I would like to finish with a few words in French on the support and the trust that our team has received. This is a collective effort led by the European Commission's team, under the direct and personal authority of Ursula von der Leyen, with her trust, and with support from all the Commission services. There are almost 200 people involved on our side, working opposite a highly skilled British team. The Commission team of course also serves the European Council and the Council. We are working with the 27 Member States – the Council – with full transparency, telling everyone everything. And the explanation for this trust and transparency is the unity of the 27. We are of course working in the same spirit with the European Parliament as well.
There has been genuine, good progress on a number of topics, as I explained at the European Council, and on which we see the prospect of agreement. We are almost in a position to draw up and flesh out this agreement.
There are a number of topics over which there remain not only question marks, but also points of difference. And there are three topics on which the gap is too wide at present.
In order for me to say now, at this moment, that there is a prospect of a deal, we need to change the outlook to head towards a deal, and for that we need progress. Progress on the question of the ‘level playing field', on the question of governance, and also on the question of fisheries. There is therefore a lot of work, a lot of work for us to focus on.
From tomorrow, I will be in discussions with my counterpart David Frost. As of Monday, we will be in London for the week – and if necessary the weekend as well – and the following week in Brussels. This is in any case what I have proposed to the British team, that we hold intensive negotiations in the little time that we have left in order to reach the agreement we hope for by the end of October. Not at any price, but the agreement that we hope for and of course that Europe's leaders hope for as well.
Thank you for your attention.
