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© Reuters
The EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, and the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
After heated negotiations before the end of the year, which would leave Brussels and London without a Brexit deal, the European Union and the United Kingdom agreed on future trade relations.
Details have yet to be announced. “We have finally reached an agreement. The agreement is fair, balanced and is the right thing to do and responsible for both parties. The negotiations were difficult,” said the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Layen, in a previous press conference. He added that the agreement avoids problems for business and transportation that would hamper the interdependent sectors of the economies on both sides of the English Channel.
“The UK is a third country (relative to the EU), but we have many common interests … We will continue to work together in a number of areas such as energy, climate and transport,” said Von der Layen. “The debate was largely about sovereignty, but we have to think about what sovereignty is. For me, sovereignty is being able to speak with one voice in a world of great powers and helping each other rather than each one standing up. alone”.
Earlier, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that the “red lines” of the country’s sovereignty were protected along with everything promised before the referendum, in which the United Kingdom left the EU. In a subsequent press conference, he noted that, for the first time since 1973, Britain would be “an independent coastal state with full control over its waters.”
This is the largest trade agreement that each of the two parties to the agreement has signed in its history, notes the BBC. It will need the approval of the British Parliament (probably December 30) and the EU Member States. The ambassadors of the member states meet tomorrow at 11:30 Bulgarian time.
© Reuters
What was agreed
“Time is no longer running,” said EU negotiator Michel Barnier. According to him, four pillars build the deal:
Economic and social association – in aviation, land transport, energy, fight against climate change, fishing (with reciprocal access to the waters of the EU and the United Kingdom, but with new quotas for their use); cooperation in innovation, space, science and others. However, the British government will not participate in “Erasmus”, there will also be mobility restrictions.
Citizen security and cooperation in the fight against terrorism and organized crime. This will be done with respect to the rights and protection of personal data. However, the British government refuses to cooperate in foreign policy, defense and development.
Binding dispute resolution mechanism and the possibility of imposing sanctions for breach of clauses. “If one party feels harmed by the other,” the issue can be resolved through arbitration, Johnson confirmed.
According to Reuters, the agreement distances the two countries more than expected in the United Kingdom at the time of the referendum on leaving the EU, its biggest trading partner, in 2016. However, it saved companies on both sides of the Canal from the spot of confusion. , which would be followed by the failure to build future business relationships.
This deal was worth fighting for.
We now have a fair and balanced agreement with the UK. It will protect our EU interests, ensure fair competition and provide predictability for our fishing communities.
Europe is moving forward now. https://t.co/77jrNknlu3
– Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) Dec 24, 2020
The parameters were agreed late at night, but the press conference to confirm the deal was postponed; According to Irish Foreign Minister Simon Cowney, this is due to “small” disagreements over fishing quotas, a problem that is the strongest affected France along with several other countries. It follows from Barnier’s words that the current mutual access to water will last five and a half years. About a quarter of the fish caught by the EU in British waters will be returned to Britain, Dublin announced later.
Britain left the EU on January 31. From then until December 31, there is a transition period, after Britain is a “third country” for the union. Keeping trade duty free would be good news for trade, which accounts for about half of the total trade volume of $ 900 billion.
At the same time, leaving the EU common market, with 450 million consumers, will not go unnoticed by the economies that will have to adapt to the new situation. In his press conference, Johnson opted to look at the issue entirely from the bright side: “The whole world is the same for our exporters and they have the freedom to choose.”
European countries are already commenting on the arrangements. For Ireland, the “least possible version” of Brexit has been achieved. For Germany, the cabinet must first review and approve the document, but Foreign Minister Heiko Maas added that the German presidency would do everything possible to get the agreement into effect even before its full approval on time, on 1 from January.
The reaction of the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, indicates that Spain and Great Britain must continue negotiating the status of Gibraltar.
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