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March 28
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The European Union is still negotiating a trade deal with the UK, European Council President Charles Michel said.

According to him, any agreement must be approved by the 27 EU member states, Reuters reported

The next few days will show what comes next, and the 27 EU leaders meeting at the summit on December 10-11, will take a position on the latest developments, as a deal on future relations between the EU and the UK hangs in the balance.

“It’s unfortunate that it took longer than planned, but we’re still currently negotiating,” Michel told a news conference. "We’ll see over the next few days what the next steps are at this point in the negotiations."

He said the European Commission, which is negotiating with the UK on behalf of the 27 EU countries, will inform the member states of the result of the negotiations. “We want a deal but not at any price,” he said. “For the European Union ... the ‘level playing field’ is key.”

Charles Michel noted any final approval by the 27 EU leaders would depend on the “balance” of any deal, especially on the most complex issues: agreeing on the access to fishing waters and sharing out fishing rights, finding ways to settle disputes and fair competition for companies. It is important to ensure that any deal is acceptable to the entire bloc and that the UK must decide if it wants to sign up to ambitious social, labour and environmental production standards to get a deal.

“If one side of the table rejects (a tentative agreement), it’s a no-deal,” Michel said.

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