EU to UK on Brexit talks: 'You can't have cake, eat it too'

The European Union took a defiant tone on Wednesday
as the standoff over resuming post-Brexit trade negotiations with the United
Kingdom intensified, telling London that “you cannot have your cake and eat it
too.”
European Council President Charles Michel refused to
bow to British insistence for the EU to fundamentally change its negotiating
stance and cede more to U.K. demands. Michel said instead that if Britain wants
vast access to the 27-member bloc's markets, it will equally have to keep its
waters open to EU fishermen, something the U.K. government has said it doesn't
want to do.
In a combative display at the European Parliament,
Michel said: “Yes, we want to keep access to U.K. waters for our fishermen.
Exactly like you, too, want to keep access to our huge and diversified markets
for your companies."
Britain and the EU have been attempting to strike a
new trade deal since the U.K. left the bloc on Jan. 31.
Those talks ground to a halt last week, with each
side calling for the other to compromise in order to secure a deal. The EU said
it was happy to keep talking, but Johnson said Friday that negotiations were
over unless there was a “fundamental” shift from the bloc. He told British
businesses to prepare for a no-deal economic break with the EU at the end of
the year.