It’s the right time for Boris

the it is never too late to be late. The UK and the EU now have until Sunday to reach an agreement on the future relationship between them, if the British do not have a trade agreement with the EU by New Years. Then four and a half years have passed since the summer day of 2016 when British voters with 52 to 48 percent of the vote decided to break away from the EU, which is called “Brexit”. The UK formally left the EU on January 31, but is part of the customs union and the internal market during the transition period, which lasts until the New Year. Without a trade agreement by then, there will be customs and border control.

This deadline was set during a kind of crisis dinner at EU headquarters on Wednesday night between British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. It is not easy to count how many “last” deadlines there have been so far in the negotiations. The parts are still far apart, the two could be resolved later. Most likely, there will be no deal, Johnson explained the next day. He said Wednesday that a good deal was still possible.

From 27 The EU heads of state and government met for a summit on Thursday and Friday, but with no “Brexit” on the agenda. They eventually got the long-term budget approved with the large recovery fund to remedy the ravages of the corona pandemic. Hungary and Poland had to bend their knees and withdraw their veto threats. For the rest, they talked about the pandemic, the relationship with the United States after the election of Joe Biden as president there and the new sanctions against Turkey. And they decided to toughen climate policy.

The “Brexit” they have had at the summits so far too many times before, and they agree with the demands of the British for a deal. But probably von der Leyen told you about dinner with Johnson. On Thursday, the European Commission presented contingency plans to secure road and air connections until further notice in the event of no agreement. The plans have been in place for a long time, so it is a matter of some refinement, as well as sending a signal to the British.

Three very difficult contentious issues must be cleared up before the end of the weekend.

Most important is British access to the EU single market. Free access without tariffs or quotas will only be granted by the EU if the British comply with the rules that apply there. Fair and fair conditions of competition are the basis of the common market. But the British will have the right to set their own rules.

Second, it is about enforcing an agreement and ruling in civil cases. Great Britain will be free from the Court of Justice of the European Communities.

Third, EU fishermen have access to British waters. This is financially little to discuss. Fishing accounts for 0.03% of the UK economy. The British barely eat their own fish, 70 percent of the fish they eat comes from Norway and Iceland. And 70 percent of the seafood they consume is sold to the EU. If they want to raise more, they must have access to the EU market. But for the British, it is a question of sovereignty. In France, President Emmanuel Macron is running for re-election. He has experienced an uprising of the periphery, of the “yellow vests”, and he does not want another one of Brittany’s fishermen. Still, this should be resolved with a little haggling.

The final sprint in these negotiations it has been, to put it mildly, complicated on Johnson’s part. In October he presented a proposal for a law on the British internal market, which represented a breach of the divorce agreement with the EU and then also with international law. The agreement presupposes an open border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, in line with the Good Friday Agreement on peace in Northern Ireland. This will be the EU’s external border and therefore Northern Ireland should remain within the customs union and the EU internal market until other solutions are found. Then he came up with a new tax law that meant the same thing. The EU took legal action for the non-compliance.

But then on Monday, Johnson withdrew both controversial laws to show goodwill. Was it just a tactical ploy to see if the EU would bow? All he did was destroy his own reputation and that of the country. Just prior to this coup, two ardent enemies of the EU, strategic adviser Dominic Cummings and communications chief Lee Cain, had been fired from the prime minister’s office, according to British newspapers after interference from Johnson’s co-inhabitant, Carrie Symonds. And Joe Biden was elected president of the United States. If Britain manipulates the Good Friday deal, the country will not get a trade deal with the United States, he threatened.

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Simultaneously now there is a majority among the voters in favor of the British permanence in the EU, 47 against 38 percent. It is not the opponents of the EU who have changed their minds, but two thirds of those who did not vote now want to remain in the EU.

Johnson and his Conservative party won a large majority in the parliamentary elections in December last year with a single message: “End Brexit!” But it was easier said than done.

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