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photo : euronews

Brussels and London pledged Friday to step up the pace of Brexit trade talks to try to strike a deal by the end of October, after the latest round of negotiations ended with no major breakthrough. European Union (EU) chief negotiator Michel Barnier accused Britain of backtracking on divorce terms agreed last year, as he reported "no significant progress" in four days of talks held by video link because of coronavirus. The former French minister set an October 31 deadline, to reach an agreement on future EU-UK ties, to give time for it to be ratified before the end of the year. Britain left the EU on January 31 and is now in a transition period until December 31, when it will leave the bloc's single market and customs union -- with or without a trade deal. Barnier's UK counterpart David Frost noted "limited" advances and asked that both sides "intensify and accelerate our work" in order to clinch the deal. Barnier said the next round of talks would take place in late June or early July as officials talked of a busy summer ahead for negotiations//AFP