once the new president, gustavo petro, takes office in august. mr petro, himself a former rebel, has become the country s first left wing leader after winning sunday s presidential election. now on bbc news, it s hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i m stephen sackur. after a painful divorce, you never know if the ex partners will be able to build an amicable relationship. for britain and the eu, it seems the brexit break up has left a legacy of mistrust and bitterness, which is overwhelming any desire for cooperation. northern ireland is currently what they re fighting over. the uk is refusing to stick to the divorce settlement and the eu is threatening legal action. my guest is the eu ambassador in london, joao vale de almeida. is this a fight where everyone gets hurt? joao vale de almeida, welcome to hardtalk. thank you for having me. it s a pleasure to have you. i want to start with some words of yours from, actually, early in your posting here in london as eu ambassador. you
stick to the divorce settlement and the eu is threatening legal action. my guest is the eu ambassador in london, joao vale de almeida. is this a fight where everyone gets hurt? joao vale de almeida, welcome to hardtalk. thank you for having me. it s a pleasure to have you. i want to start with some words of yours from, actually, early in your posting here in london as eu ambassador. you said, we have divorced. it s always complicated to divorce and it is difficult to find a new balance. well, many months have passed since then. why are you still failing to find a new balance? well, i have no personal experience of divorce, thank god, but i m told by friends that it s always complicated. and this one has proved to be complicated, to be very frank. it was a traumatic divorce, let s be clear. we sort of co existed together for almost. ..almost half a century, and then through a democratic process, which we fully respect, a decision was taken which is a serious one with a num
liable for the sexual assault of a 16 year old girl at the playboy mansion in 1975. jurors in the civil trial ruled against him, and awarded his victim half a million dollars in damages. now on bbc news, it s time for hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i m stephen sackur. after a painful divorce, you never know if the ex partners will be able to build an amicable relationship. for britain and the eu, it seems the brexit break up has left a legacy of mistrust and bitterness, which is overwhelming any desire for cooperation. northern ireland is currently what they re fighting over. the uk is refusing to stick to the divorce settlement and the eu is threatening legal action. my guest is the eu ambassador in london, joao vale de almeida. is this a fight where everyone gets hurt? joao vale de almeida, welcome to hardtalk. thank you for having me. it s a pleasure to have you. i want to start with some words of yours from, actually, early in your posting here in london as eu ambassador.
stick to the divorce settlement and the eu is threatening legal action. my guest is the eu ambassador in london, joao vale de almeida. is this a fight where everyone gets hurt? joao vale de almeida, welcome to hardtalk. thank you for having me. it s a pleasure to have you. i want to start with some words of yours from, actually, early in your posting here in london as eu ambassador. you said, we have divorced. it s always complicated to divorce and it is difficult to find a new balance. well, many months have passed since then. why are you still failing to find a new balance? well, i have no personal experience of divorce, thank god, but i m told by friends that it s always complicated. and this one has proved to be complicated, to be very frank. it was a traumatic divorce, let s be clear. we sort of co existed together for almost. ..almost half a century, and then through a democratic process, which we fully respect, a decision was taken which is a serious one with a num
brussels, the institutions, i guess the commission, is developing a hit list of sensitive products from britain that, for example, scotch whisky, car parts, that they could impose retaliatory tariffs on if the brits don t back down on northern ireland, and do real, quick damage to the british economy. i don t wish to comment on speculation. our focus now is to try to find jointly agreed solution. we are ready to talk if the position of the government is the one that accepts that one needs to respect the overall framework in which we are working. but i know the way brussels works. plans are being made for all sorts of eventualities. are plans being made for punitive tariffs? no, we are not hiding that, if ever the behaviour of the british government in implementing the protocol does not live up to the standards in our agreement, there are links between that and the trade and cooperation agreement that will eventually need to be applied. but we don t want. eventually how long? i mean, th