Michel Barnier: Not possible to complete post-Brexit trade deal in eleven months

The European Commission published its draft negotiating mandate for a single package with three components: general arrangements, economic arrangements and security arrangements.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said: "It's now time to get down to work. Time is short.

"We will negotiate in a fair and transparent manner, but we will defend EU interests, and the interests of our citizens, right until the end."

Barnier said the EU was prepared to make a "exceptional offer" for a wide-ranging free trade agreement with the UK.

However, he said that it was conditional on competition remaining "open and fair" with "specific and effective guarantees" to ensure a "level playing field" over the long term.

"That means mechanisms to uphold the high standards we have on social, environmental, climate, tax and state aid matters," he said.

He said there must also be an agreement on fisheries with continued reciprocal access to markets and waters with "stable quota shares".

Barnier warned that even if they were able to agree a "best-in-class" trade deal it would still not be "business as usual".

He said rules of origin and customs formalities would apply between the UK and the EU and access to EU markets would be subject to "certification and market authorisation and supervision activities".

There would be no harmonisation or mutual recognition of rules, and UK financial services providers would no longer enjoy EU "passporting rights".

Goods entering the EU from the UK would be subject to regulatory checks," he continued.

"These are the automatic and mechanical consequences of the UK's choices and businesses must adapt now to this new reality," he said.

Barnier also said the more the UK was prepared to maintain common standards with the EU, the higher quality access it would get to EU markets.

"This will be up to the UK to decide. Will it continue to adhere to Europe's societal and regulatory model in the future or will it seek to diverge?" he said.

"The UK's answer to this question will be fundamental to the level of our ambition of our future relationship. The UK must know this."

A security partnership between the UK and EU would also depend on the European Court of Justice playing a full role - something likely to be rejected by Brexiteers.

Setting out three conditions Barnier said: "The UK should commit itself to applying the European Convention on Human Rights.

"Secondly, the British government should set up adequate standards for data protection - this is an essential concern for the Europeans and this is something that the European Parliament is paying a great deal of attention to.

"Thirdly, any co-operation should be subject to an effective dispute settlement mechanism.

"Where a partnership is based on concepts derived from European law, obviously the European Court of Justice should be able to continue its role in full."

Barnier told reporters in Brussels that "where there's a will, there's a way" to reach a deal.

"But we are constrained by the decision, if it's confirmed, the decision of Boris Johnson to leave the single market and the customs union at the end of this year," he said.

He also suggested it would not be possible to complete the whole deal within 11 months.

"Irrespective of the result that we will arrive at at the end of the year - and in any subsequent negotiations, and I say that because to do everything we will need more than 11 months of time - it won't be business as usual," he said.

Barnier said an agreement on fisheries and the "level playing field" were "inextricably linked" to a trade deal.

"It's clear that the agreement that we wish to have in the interests of UK fishermen and in the interests of European fishermen - I call that reciprocal access to our territorial waters and our markets - that agreement on fisheries will be inextricably linked to the trade agreement, as indeed will be... the agreement on the level playing field agreed with Boris Johnson."