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After ten months of grueling negotiations, the European Union and the United Kingdom announced on Thursday, on Christmas Eve, a historic agreement on their future commercial relationship.
“This agreement will protect European interests and also benefits the UK.”, “an old friend”, expressed her satisfaction the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, during a press conference.
“We can finally leave Brexit behind and look back”she added.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has promised that his country will remain “friend“,”ally“and”first market“of the Europeans. “This country remains culturally, emotionally, historically, strategically and geopolitically united to Europe”he told reporters.
The German Chancellor also stated “confident“on the fact that an agreement has been reached”Okay“while the French president estimated that” European unity and firmness “paid off in the negotiations.
Long and difficult negotiations
This amicable divorce, obtained after 24 hours under high tension, concludes a tense marriage of almost half a century between the two partners.
Four and a half years after the 2016 Brexit referendum, the conclusion of these talks allows the two sides to move away from a “No deal“with serious economic consequences.
Completing such a comprehensive text in ten months is an achievement for an agreement of this magnitude, which generally lasts for years.
It took two and a half years to negotiate the divorce treaty, concluded at the end of 2019, a text that provides legal certainty to expatriates on both banks of the English Channel and provides guarantees for the maintenance of peace on the island of Ireland .
Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin, whose country would have been at the forefront in the event of “No deal“welcomed an agreement”Welcome“.
The text must also be validated by the Member States, a process that would take several days. But in theory, there is enough time for it to be applied provisionally from January 1, when the UK, which officially left the EU on January 31, will definitely leave the single market. The agreement will be validated a posteriori by the European Parliament.
What the trade agreement provides
Through this trade agreement, the EU provides its former member state with unprecedented duty-free access and market share for its huge 450 million consumers.
But this opening will be accompanied by strict conditions: companies throughout the English Channel will have to comply with a series of environmental, labor and tax regulations to avoid dumping. There are also guarantees for state aid.
A mechanism will allow the two parties to quickly activate countermeasures, such as customs duties, in the event of divergences in these rules.
Despite its low economic participation, the access of European fishermen to British waters has been the last stumbling block, due to the political and social importance of the sector in several Member States, including France, the Netherlands, Denmark and Ireland. But the British, who are regaining control of their waters, have made this a symbol of their regained sovereignty.
The agreement provides for a transitional period of 5 and a half years until June 2026, at the end of which European fishermen will give up 25% of their stake, which amounts to 650 million euros per year. Access to British waters will be renegotiated annually.
European negotiator Michel Barnier has promised that the EU will be “together with European fishermen”.
He stressed that there will be, despite this agreement, “real changes” from January 1 “for many citizens and companies”. “It is a consequence of Brexit,” he said.
The EU has allocated € 5 billion in its budget to support the sectors most affected.
Without an agreement, trade between the EU and London would have been governed by the rules of the World Trade Organization, synonymous with customs duties, quotas and administrative procedures that could cause monstrous traffic jams and delays in deliveries.
A black scenario for the United Kingdom, already plagued by a more virulent strain of coronavirus that has isolated it from the rest of the world.
The UK would have had more to lose than the EU: the British export 47% of their products to the continent, and the EU only 8% of their products across the English Channel.
