| What's Happening? Low expectations are falling even lower. It's becoming tricky to see any significant progress in the U.K.'s negotiations with the European Union. Next week's round of talks is the last scheduled before a stock-taking summit later in the month, and no one thinks that's going to provide much in the way of positivity either. "Perhaps the United Kingdom has come to the conclusion that there's not going to be a deal," EU Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan said today.  Phil Hogan. Photographer: Olivier Matthys/Bloomberg Talks still aren't even at the stage "where we're genuinely seeing if we can move forward," David Frost, Britain's chief negotiator, told Parliament on Wednesday. No wonder his opposite number, Michel Barnier, sounded so gloomy the last time they met. Read: EU Has Bigger Problems to Worry About Than Brexit Gridlock Everyone's got other things on their minds, and while that shouldn't really matter it does mean it's hard to see where fresh political impetus is going to come from. EU leaders, who need to get together and agree unanimously to change Barnier's negotiating mandate substantially, are tackling their own post-pandemic problems. The economic impact of ending 2020 without a trade deal may be dwarfed by the virus but, as my colleague Jill Ward writes today, it is likely to last a long longer. Even so, the Brexit issue is barely registering in Brussels. Read: No-Deal Brexit to Hit U.K. Economy Long Past Virus Meanwhile, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been busy batting away calls for his top adviser to resign, after Dominic Cummings allegedly broke lockdown rules. There's a link to the EU negotiations here too, because of Cummings's leading role in the Leave campaign during the 2016 referendum. The EU thinks he's largely behind Britain's hardball take-it-or-leave-it negotiating strategy. Frost acknowledged he talks to Cummings frequently, although "the Brexit policy is set by the prime minister," he told MPs. And if Johnson's aide did lose his job? "I'm quite confident whatever the arrangement for advisers," the existing strategy "would continue." So, a lot to be done. Frost admits a deal on fishing rights is now unlikely before the deadline of the end of June. And, as last week's exchange of letters showed, there's increasing tension between the two sides. Johnson refuses to extend the negotiating period beyond the end of the year. As we've said before, it's going to be months before we know how this is going to end. — Ian Wishart Beyond Brexit Sign up here for our daily coronavirus newsletter, and subscribe to our Covid-19 podcast.  Click here for the latest maps and data on the spread of coronavirus. Want to keep up with Brexit? You can follow us @Brexit on Twitter, and listen to Bloomberg Westminster every weekday. It's live at midday on Bloomberg Radio and is available as a podcast too. Share the Brexit Bulletin: Colleagues, friends and family can sign up here. For full EU coverage, try the Brussels Edition. For even more: Subscribe to Bloomberg All Access for our unmatched global news coverage and two in-depth daily newsletters, The Bloomberg Open and The Bloomberg Close. | 
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