British Prime Minister Boris Johnson returns to Downing Street following a cabinet meeting at the Foreign and Commonwealth office on Tuesday. Downing Street has warned peers not to try to block controversial legislation overriding key elements of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement. (See story on Page 16) Photo: AFP

A top EU diplomat warned Monday it was getting dangerously late to secure a post-Brexit trade deal as a week of crucial talks began in Brussels.

The clock is ticking down to December 31 when a post-Brexit transition phase ends and the UK and Europe will need a trade deal to govern ties - or face economic chaos. 

The EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier and his UK counterpart David Frost met again in Brussels in hopes of reaching an agreement after eight months of mostly fruitless talks.

"Let's see if there will be an agreement. We can't tell at this stage whether this will be by the end of this week, or whenever - or at all," the senior diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"This is already getting extremely late," he told reporters. In London, a Downing Street spokesman agreed: "There is much work to be done and time is very short."

With a late October deadline already blown, a deal is needed to allow time for legal vetting and translation and then ratification by the European Parliament, whose last scheduled meeting of 2020 is on December 16.

The diplomat warned that "creative solutions" would be needed if a deal was delivered too late. Any accord would require two to three weeks of legal work before a vote by members of the European Parliament (MEPs).

"We work very hard to get a deal, but there is still quite a lot to do," said Frost as he arrived for a session of talks with Barnier.

Officials on both sides of the talks say negotiators are waiting for the opposite side to make a big move on the toughest issues that remain.

For the UK, the EU must discount its hopes of keeping permanent wide access to British waters for European fishermen.

The EU meanwhile is waiting for London to lay down guarantees for fair competition on matters such as the environment, health and state aid.

"We are very strict on our conditions [and] they are acceptable," said Thierry Breton, France's representative to the European Commission that is spearheading the talks for the EU.

AFP