European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (pictured) has told reporters the EU and UK “remain apart” on the fundamental issues in the negotiations on a new post-Brexit trade agreement.

At a press conference following a meeting of EU leaders, she confirmed that the EU would decide on Sunday whether there were the conditions for an agreement or not. Reports suggest she told leaders attending the summit that there were ”low expectations” about a deal.

Fair competition

Ms von der Leyen said the EU had repeatedly made it clear that the principle of fair competition is a pre-condition for privileged access to the EU market.

"It is only fair that competitors to our own enterprises face the same conditions in our own market,” she said. But the head of the commission added that the EU would not require the UK to follow every time the EU decided to raise its standards.

“They would remain free – sovereign if you wish – to decide what they want to do. We would simply adapt the conditions for access to our market according to the decision of the United Kingdom. And this would apply vice versa,” Ms von der Leyen said.

Fisheries gap

She said there was also still a gap on fisheries, adding that UK had to understand the legitimate expectations of EU fishing fleets built on decades, and sometimes centuries, of access.

Yesterday (10 December), the commission proposed a number of contingency measures to deal with the potential fall-out from a failure to reach agreement.

These included short-term fixes to ensure basic connectivity in air and road transport for six months, as well as a proposal to ensure reciprocal access to each other's waters for next year.