High level EU-UK talks set for Monday as new deadline looms

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will hold talks with top European Union officials on Monday to try to push forward trade discussions after post-Brexit negotiations ended last week with little sign of progress and a new deadline looming.

“The High-Level meeting between the EU and U.K. is now confirmed for 15 June,” European Commission spokesman Eric Mamer tweeted Thursday. The EU delegation will include Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michel and European Parliament President David Sassoli.

In London, Downing Street confirmed the video conference meeting would take place Monday afternoon. No other details were immediately provided by any of the parties.

The two sides remained at loggerheads over several issues after four days of talks last week, including on regulations for businesses. Their positions on fisheries also remain distant, with the U.K. adamantly opposed to EU demands for long-term access to British waters.

The U.K. left the political institutions of the EU on Jan. 31 but remains inside the EU’s tariff-free economic zone until the end of the year. The transition period can be extended by two years but a request to do so has to be made by July 1. Johnson has repeatedly said he won’t ask for an extension.

The hope is that Monday’s talks will push the negotiations forward.

If the EU and the British government don’t reach an agreement by the end of the year, tariffs and quotas will return on trade between the U.K. and the 27-nation bloc, another economic shock - on top of the pandemic - that most economists think would hurt Britain more. Cars exported from one side to the other, for example, would face a 10% levy.

MADRID (AP) — British and Spanish foreign ministers said a new round of talks held Friday over the status of the disputed territory of Gibraltar following Britain’s exit from the European Union were productive and significant progress was made.

The meeting was between Spain's José Manuel Albares, Britain’s David Cameron and European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic in Brussels. Gibraltar Chief Minister Fabian Picardo also attended. It was the first time representatives from the four areas had come together for talks on the issue.

In a statement after the meeting, the parties said "discussions took place in a constructive atmosphere, with significant progress achieved.

“General political lines have been agreed (on), including on airport, goods and mobility. Negotiations will continue over the coming weeks to conclude the EU-UK Agreement,” it added.

All sides are eager to clinch a deal before European elections in June.

Britain left the European Union in 2020 with the relationship between Gibraltar and the bloc unresolved. Talks on a deal to ensure people and goods can keep flowing over the Gibraltar-Spain border have made halting progress in the 19 rounds of negotiations so far, but both Spanish and U.K. officials have recently expressed optimism about a deal.

In Britain’s 2016 Brexit referendum, 96% of voters in Gibraltar supported remaining in the EU. The tiny territory on Spain's southern tip depends greatly on access to the EU market for its 34,000 inhabitants.

Gibraltar was ceded to Britain in 1713, but Spain has maintained its sovereignty claim ever since. Relations concerning the Rock, as it is popularly referred to in English, have had their ups and downs over the centuries.

A major sticking point has been who controls Gibraltar’s airport, which under the proposed free-movement deal would be an external border of the EU. The U.K. and Gibraltar have resisted Spain’s insistence that Spanish border officials be based at the airport, which is also home to a Royal Air Force base.

The British Foreign Office said Thursday that while it did not expect a final agreement Friday, "getting senior political figures from the UK, European Commission, Spain and Gibraltar in one room is significant.”

Associated Press writer Jill Lawless reported from London.