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| - Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson will decide whether or not to pursue last-ditch efforts to agree a post-Brexit trade deal with Europe after a crunch call Wednesday with EU leader Ursula von der Leyen. The call between the two comes on the eve of an EU summit that Johnson had declared to be the deadline for a breakthrough, but there appears to be no sign of imminent progress and Number 10 said London was facing a choice. "There are still differences, with fisheries being the starkest. We need to get substance settled and not having a common text to work from has made progress doubly difficult," a UK spokesman said, referring to the drawn out effort to agree new trading rules. "The PM's 7 September statement was very clear about the significance of 15 October. He will need to take a decision on next steps following the European Council in the light of his conversation with presidents von der Leyen and Michel, and on advice from his negotiating team. We cannot prejudge that decision." Von der Leyen and EU Council president Charles Michel, host of this week's key EU summit, will represent Brussels and EU members on the call, scheduled for 8:30pm (1830 GMT). One European official said: "We do not expect anything spectacular, neither breakthrough nor drama." European diplomats said Brussels was ready for a deal, but not at any price, and would be looking for a sign from Johnson that he was serious about compromise. "We need to lower the landing gear, we're approaching the runway. Is he thinking about landing or is he still at 10,000 metres?" one asked. The 27 EU leaders will meet in Brussels Thursday, with the log-jam in the post-Brexit trade talks with their former partner the first item on their summit programme. According to initial draft conclusions seen by AFP -- although diplomats said these could be revised before the leaders gather -- they will express concern "that progress on key issues of interest to the Union is still not sufficient for an agreement to be reached." And they will invite EU negotiator Michel Barnier to "intensify negotiations" to strike and implement a trade deal before January 1, when the UK will have left the single market. European diplomats said there had been some positive movement from Britain on rules of fair trade in recent days, but not enough to warrant locking the negotiators into a so-called "diplomatic tunnel" to force the talks over the finish line. Some member states are pushing for the sides to an agree on a "toolbox" of retaliatory measures that Brussels could take in response if it feels that Britain has broken its word on maintain a level-playing field in cross-Channel business. Britain left the European Union on January 31, but Barnier and UK negotiator David Frost have been locked in inconclusive talks on a follow-on arrangement for cross-Channel business. If no deal is reached, trade rules will revert to the bare bones of World Trade Organisation regulations. Both sides insist they are ready for this -- and would prefer it to accepting a deal that oversteps their red lines -- but experts forecast severe economic disruption. On September 7, seeking to spur progress, Johnson declared October 15 to be his deadline to reach a deal or walk away. This date now seems likely to pass without talks breaking down. Europe's three main concerns are agreeing on the rules of fair competition, agreeing how these rules will be policed and securing access to UK waters for EU fishing fleets. Britain wants to reassert sovereignty over its waters and refuse EU legal oversight over the deal -- insisting it wants a simple trade deal of the kind the EU signed with Canada. Brussels in turn stresses that Britain's economy is far more integrated with and closer to the EU's than Canada, and that its single market must be protected from British backsliding. Northern fishing nations, in particular France, are holding a firm line on fishing, insisting that their boats operated in UK waters for centuries before the EU was formed. Separately, the chiefs of leading German, French and Italian business associations on Wednesday urged the European Union and Britain to do "everything in their power" to reach an agreement on post-Brexit trade. "The risk of a no deal is real," the presidents of Germany's BDI, France's Medef and Italy's Confindustria said. bur-dc/pdw
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