The German Chancellor Angela Merkel is “waiting in the wings” as post-Brexit trade talks go down to the wire this week, according to former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.

Chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier this morning told European foreign ministers that he was “rather downbeat” about the prospect of a deal.

With Thursday’s European Summit seen as a deadline for the talks, the three main sticking points remain: fishing, competition rules and oversight.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will speak to the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson by phone this evening in a bid to find a breakthrough.

Brexit

On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said the UK's demands are unreasonable.

“Britain are definitely looking for their cake with jam on it before they eat it because the issue here is they want to be sovereign – OK they are leaving the EU and we understand that, their sovereignty has to take a centre stage it didn’t before – but equally, they want all the access to the internal market,” he said.

“They want all the goodies of the internal market and that is the bit where they can’t have it both ways.”

He said it is “regrettable” that the UK is continuing to threaten to breach the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement with the controversial Internal Markets Bill.

"Brinksmanship"

The bill breaches international law by overriding parts of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement – specifically parts that breach the Northern Ireland protocol which prevents the return of a hard border in Ireland.

“I think that is very regrettable because that is breaking an international agreement,” he said.

“I think we are still seeing brinkmanship unfortunately. I assume what they will say is that if there is a deal by the end of the week, they will withdraw those sections, probably on the final stage of the bill.

“But it certainly is upping the ante and we can read from that, that they are not as close to an agreement as we were led to believe over the weekend.

“If they were that close, I don’t think they would try and rub people’s noses in it because ultimately, it is breaking an international agreement.”

Merkel

He said he expects to see the German Chancellor Angela Merkel getting involved in the coming days.

“I think Angela Merkel is in the wings here and Angela Merkel’s spokesperson has made it clear that there is always room for compromise so I would imagine that on the wings of these talks, Angela Merkel is there and I would be surprised if she doesn’t roll in at some point between now and the European Council meeting on Thursday,” he said.

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