They quote from an interview Coveney has given to the Irish Examiner, where he says negotiations with Britain in relation to securing a Brexit deal are “in a difficult place” and he also expressed "frustration” at a clear change in position from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his team. I don't think we get this sort of frank revelation over here. It is as if we don't care what the atmosphere is like in the EU but I suppose it's pretty obvious that David Frost is doing an excellent job of upsetting our future partners and making a good deal that much more difficult to get.
“My view is that we will find a way of getting that [a deal] done, that’s a personal view, but there have been five rounds of negotiations and very, very little progress has been made,” he added.
“It has been a frustrating process, both sides have agreed to intensify negotiations. Michel Barnier has been clear there has not been much progress. There was an expectation that we would see more from the British side but that didn’t happen."
Coveney is apparently writing an article for this week's Sunday Times which might tell us a bit more.
RTE's Tony Connelly had another fascinating piece, albeit a bit old now - 13 June - but nonetheless interesting to see the difference between the UK government's public position about walking away and everybody panicking that we will have food shortages next January, and what is actually happening behind the scenes.
Connelly says, "EU officials say London has been lobbying hard in national capitals for a July tunnel and for member states to relax the negotiating mandate they have given Barnier.
"There is a very strong push to accelerate things in July, and that the autumn will be too late," says one diplomat. "[UK officials] have been saying this in [EU] capitals as well. There is an element that they don’t want to be backed into a corner, to mix metaphors, at a cliff edge, when everything is last minute."
"'There is an entrenched view in the EU now that the MFF comes first and Brexit second. Nobody is willing to engage in a detailed discussion, or a review of the negotiating mandate, now. That's all being looked at in September/October,' says the diplomat."
This reference to a "tunnel" is the last frantic period where they go into a period of intensive negotiations over the final details with a sort of purdah descending over the talks with neither side making any comments. It's when the horse trading really starts.
The whole idea of a July "tunnel" has now gone and as Connelly says, European capitals are much more focused on other issues like the MFF (Multiannual Financial Framework), and the coronavirus recovery plan. We think Brexit is a big thing but the EU have already moved on.
But note how the UK is 'lobbying hard'. It is hardly the action of a party who is relaxed about the outcome is it? As a salesmen this is like having a customer who keeps telling you your price is too high and you are going to lose the order - but he keeps calling you to give the same message over and over. You know he is going to place the order eventually with a small discount to make it look better.
And again according to the well-connected Connelly, "London’s dogged rejection of an extension to the transition period has left member states highly unsympathetic to any desperate pleas to speed things up."
It is almost exactly as Sir Ivan Rogers forecast years ago, He always said setting deadlines was a mistake on our part. The EU will run down the clock knowing that the UK will have to capitulate at the end. The hubris of our present leaders has backfired again.
I'll leave Connelly to finish:
"On the level playing field," says one diplomat, "I don’t see a desire among any of the member states to give the UK a free highway into the single market without commitments."
Furthermore, London’s dogged rejection of an extension to the transition period has left member states highly unsympathetic to any desperate pleas to speed things up.
However, the diplomat adds: "Nobody wants the UK not to thrive economically. This is not what we’re interested in. It’s an important market for us. But it cannot thrive at our expense.
"There is significant distance on a few major issues, but I don’t think we are too far apart on others. These are the logical consequences of proximity, the interconnection, and the fact that the UK does not want to burn bridges in the areas they are interested in."
So, I don't believe I am wrong in saying there will be a deal, it will be tilted heavily in the EU's favour and Johnson will sell it as a triumph - the ERG and many leave voters will see it totally differently.
