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France insists on exhaustive controls: Farage declares “war”
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More red tape and new border rules: Brexit deal under review
After the EU reached an agreement with Britain on a trade pact, the economy in particular will now take a closer look at the details. The agreement means additional bureaucracy and new border formalities.
The breakthrough came on Christmas Eve and EU member states have started examining the trade deal with Britain. France announces massive controls on British products, and Nigel Farage declares his fight to leave the EU.
northAfter the historic agreement on a Brexit trade pact, the EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier briefed the ambassadors of the 27 EU states. The briefing of the French has started, wrote a spokesman for the German presidency of the EU Council on Twitter on Friday. EU member states would now examine the 1246 pages of the agreement and “will continue this daunting task in the coming days.”
As there is no longer enough time for the EU to ratify the agreement, the provisions can initially only be applied temporarily. However, this requires the approval of all 27 EU countries.
The EU and the UK agreed to a trade pact on Thursday after months of negotiations. The contract aims to regulate the relationship between both parties from January 2021 onwards. The most important point is to avoid tariffs, allow unlimited trade in both directions, and limit friction losses as much as possible.
Agriculture Minister Julia Klöckner (CDU) expressed her support for the German fishermen. “For the fishery, the result means painful cuts – some of the catches in the North Sea will have to be dispensed with in the future,” Klöckner explained in Berlin on Friday.
The minister emphasized that the agreement with a transitional period of five and a half years, the regulation of quotas and the guaranteed access to the fishing grounds provide “at least a certain degree of urban security.” “But it is also clear that we have to support the fishermen and give them a hand in this difficult situation. Looking ahead to 2026, it will be important to find a long-term solution ”. Klöckner did not elaborate on possible help.
Meanwhile, France insists on a massive overhaul of British goods by the end of the year. “We have to control the British products that come to us,” Secretary of State for Europe Clément Beaune told Europe 1 channel on Friday. Food or industrial products must comply with all applicable regulations. The French state recruited some 1,300 people to guarantee these controls.
France is a major hub for British products. Around 70 per cent of the trade volume between Great Britain and the EU passed through the ports of Calais and Dunkirk, in northern France, and through the Eurotunnel, as reported by the prefecture of the Hauts-de-France region, in the northern France.
Beaune, a confidant of the head of state Emmanuel Macron, announced an aid program for French fishermen in the double-digit millions. “We will go with them,” he said, looking at the fishermen. The trade pact provides for a transition period of five and a half years, during which EU fishermen can fish 25 per cent less in British waters. Fishing is a symbol in France.
“Negotiating is not so easy anymore”
The Commissioner for Brexit of the EU Parliament, David McAllister, He fears “far-reaching consequences for individuals, businesses and public administrations” after London left the domestic market at the end of the year. In an interview with WELT, the CDU politician said: “Trade between the EU and the UK will no longer work as well as if we belonged to the internal market and the customs union.”
The leader of the British Brexit party, Nigel Farage, declared his fight for Britain to leave the EU. “The war is over,” Farage wrote on Twitter. Prime Minister Boris Johnson will be seen as the one who carried out Brexit, Farage said in a video linked to Twitter. “Maybe not perfect, but still: He did what he had promised,” the Erz-Brexiteer said appreciatively. Farage feels that in some details, such as fishing, the pure Brexit doctrine of total control was not applied. “But overall, the war is over.”
Britain had already left the EU at the end of January, but remains a member of the EU internal market and the customs union during a transitional phase until the end of the year. Without an agreement, more complex customs duties and controls would have been necessary.
