Coronavirus has disrupted almost every facet of daily life, including broader political actions such as Brexit. In light of tension surrounding the virus, the U.K. and E.U. have cancelled this week's Brexit trade deal talks.
The three-day long talks were supposed to take place in person, which was first moved to a remote format. Now, the talks have been postponed entirely.
It is unclear whether the future talks are cancelled as a whole, but officials may now find a new way around the previously-established structure for talks.
The U.K. government spokesman said: "Both sides remain fully committed to the negotiations and we remain in regular contact with the European Commission to consider alternative ways to continue discussions, including looking at the possibility of video conferencing or conference calls, and exploring flexibility in the structure in the coming weeks.
"We expect to share a draft FTA (Free Trade Agreement) alongside the draft legal texts of a number of the standalone agreements in the near future still, as planned."
It would be too difficult to facilitate the Brexit talks via video conferencing or calls simply because In the first round of talks between the U.K. and E.U., around 200 officials were present and had to be divided into 11 different working groups, sitting at 11 different tables in a conference centre in Brussels. These groups discussed various different policy topics, ranging from from tradable goods to transport to energy and fishing.
Moreover, as per the joint statement, David Frost from the UK's side and Michel Barnier for the E.U. still may have some video contact this week acting as the two chief negotiators in the situation. If virtual talks between them go well, they may serve as a bellwether for more of these kinds of conversations in the future.
Some believe this is a stalling technique on the U.K.'s side, who disagree with many of the proposed clauses due to references to E.U. and not native law and may favor European nations.