British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are set to speak by telephone Saturday to assess the state of post-Brexit trade talks between the U.K. and the European Union.

A spokesman at Johnson’s Downing Street office said Friday that the prime minister’s conversation with the leader of the EU’s executive arm would allow the two to “take stock” of the negotiations less than two months before a transition period designed to smooth Britain’s departure from the EU ends.

Though the U.K. left the EU on January 31, it remains within the bloc’s tariff-free single market and customs union until the end of this year.

A trade deal would ensure there are no tariffs and quotas on trade in goods between the two sides, but there would still be technical costs, partly associated with customs checks and non-tariff barriers on services.

Johnson said he hoped a deal could be concluded in the next seven to 10 days.

“There’s a deal there to be done but if not, the country is very well prepared,” he told British broadcaster Sky News on Friday.

Progress on reaching even a bare-bones agreement has been slow. The two sides are far apart on key issues, such as fishing rights and business regulations.

Following the conclusion of the latest round of talks in Brussels on Wednesday, the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier said “very serious divergences” remained. Barnier and his British counterpart, David Frost, have agreed to meet again next week.

The outcome of the U.S. presidential election, though not connected directly, could have a bearing on the discussions. President Donald Trump was a self-proclaimed supporter of Brexit and said he wanted to conclude a trade deal with the U.K. following reelection. Should he lose, many analysts said it would raise the pressure on London to secure a trade deal with the EU.

Trump’s Democratic rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, has voiced worries about the impact of Brexit on the peace process on the island of Ireland. Biden said he would seek to rebuild U.S. ties with the EU, were he to become president.

Earlier, Britain’s spending watchdog warned that there is likely to be “significant disruption” to trade with the European Union at the start of next year even if a trade deal between the two sides is agreed in time.

The National Audit Office, which assesses government spending, noted that crucial IT systems and transit areas for trucks are not yet ready to deal with the upcoming change in the economic relationship between the U.K. and the EU.

It did find some progress in the implementation of the changes required to systems, infrastructure and resources even though they have been hampered by the coronavirus pandemic.

“There is likely to be significant disruption at the border from January 1 as many traders and third parties will not be ready for new EU controls,” the National Audit Office said in its latest assessment of border preparations.

According to the government’s latest “reasonable worst-case planning assumptions,” between 40% and 70% of trucks transiting between the EU and the U.K. may not be ready for the new border controls come Jan. 1. It has also warned of queues of up to 7,000 trucks around the main sea crossings in southeast England.

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    <figure class="">&#13;
        <a href="/data/cache/noticias/78782/0x0/04-11-canciller-sola.jpg" class="gallery" title="Argentine minister Solá at the German embassy in Buenos Aires with EU representatives " rel="nofollow"> </a>&#13;
        <span>Argentine minister Solá at the German embassy in Buenos Aires with EU representatives </span>        </figure>


    Argentina held a meeting with the European Union ambassador and 21 of 27 EU members' representatives in Buenos Aires and formally called for an end of the support for UK Falklands' sovereignty recognition in the ongoing Brexit negotiations between Brussels and London.

    The meeting was held this week at the German embassy (Berlin holds the European Council presidency) and besides Falklands the agenda included the Covid 19 pandemic and EU support through the Team <a class="wpil_keyword_link " href="https://europeantimes.news/category/europe/"  title="Europe" data-wpil-keyword-link="linked">Europe</a>,  Argentina's economic recovery plans and the future of the stalled Mercosur/EU free trade agreement. Other issues referred to human rights, climate change and the US elections.

It was according to the local media, foreign minister Felipe Solá’s first attendance to a meeting with so many diplomats, since the lockdown started last March.

On the Falklands issue, Solá was specifically interested in emphasizing the consequences for the Islands of UK’s exit of the European Union, given the sovereignty dispute, and underlined Argentina does not want exports from the Islands to have zero tariff and zero quota access to the European market.

Solá also talked about the Mercosur/EU trade deal, which is pending confirmation from all the different countries parliaments and pointed out that the group is currently holding talks with some eleven countries, at different degree of advance, “but it is not possible to advance at the same time and at the same speed with all parties”, and in a world of uncertainty and anti integration tendencies, the best approach is to concentrate on relations with those blocks with which “we share so many values, such the case of the EU and Mercosur”.

Mentioned among the shared values were multilateralism, defense of human rights, climate change and same gender issues. As to the US elections, EU representatives expressed how complicated the system was and Solá added that the political scenario has shown a polarized public opinion, with a clear “social gap”, as in most Western countries, in reference to the polarization exposed by the followers of president Donald Trump and the Democrat candidate Joe Biden.

Solá attended with several members of his cabinet and was hosted by German ambassador Ulrich Sante and the EU representative Aude Maio-Coliche.

Brussels: EU member states on Friday extended for another year a sanctions framework against Turkey allowing visa bans and asset freezes against individuals involved in contested gas exploration in the Mediterranean.
The move comes as tensions remain high between the European Union and Turkey.

Ankara has ordered a gas exploration vessel into east Mediterranean waters claimed by Cyprus and Greece, both of which are calling for more sanctions to be imposed.

The EU sanctions framework was extended to November 12, 2021, the European Council said in a statement.

It prolongs an EU decision, reached in October 2019, under which two senior officials of the state-owned Turkish Petroleum Corporation were in February this year subjected to sanctions.