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He says he is very happy to have reached a free trade agreement.
“The agreement defends employment, allows goods to be sold without tariffs or import quotas in the EU, and will allow our companies to do more business with our European friends,” Boris Johnson told a press conference in London on Christmas Eve.
He admits that both the UK and the EU had to give in to the controversial issue of fishing.
– For example, we wanted full access and control over our fishing waters. The EU wanted a transition period of fourteen years, we wanted three years and we agreed to five and a half, he says.
According to the British government, the Court of Justice of the European Communities (ECJ) will not have power over Great Britain. “We will have full political and economic independence from January 1,” the British government said in a statement.
The president of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, says that the agreement reached is fair and balanced.
– It has been a long and winding road, but we have a good agreement. We will continue to work together in areas such as climate and security policy, and we have ensured five and a half years of full predictability for our fishermen, he said at a press conference in Brussels.
See you before new year
The leader of the European Parliament group will now meet on December 28 to analyze the agreement in detail before deciding to give its approval, the president of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, said on Twitter.
“We will act responsibly to minimize inconvenience to citizens and avoid the chaos of a non-contractual setting,” he wrote.
The EU ambassadors will in turn meet on Christmas Day to review the deal, according to an EU spokesperson. Chief Negotiator Michel Barnier will provide a summary of the negotiations during the meeting.
The British House of Commons has convened until December 30, Reuters reports.
Last minute
Despite the EU and UK negotiating throughout the year, the parties sat until Christmas Eve trying to clarify final details. Although a last minute agreement offers a better position than a blind divorce, it still separates the parties much further than was thought when the British voted to leave the EU four years ago, writes Reuters.
The UK formally left the EU on January 1 this year, but the transition period has largely meant that nothing has changed in practice for trade and travel.
Details of the deal have yet to be announced, but the parties have now agreed to zero tariffs and unchanged quotas that will help facilitate trade in goods that account for half of the annual trade exchange of around 7.4 billion SEK.
The agreement will also preserve the Northern Ireland peace agreement, a priority issue for future US President Joe Biden.
In the stock market
European stock markets reacted to the deal with a rise in prices and even the pound rose. But it still means that Europe’s second-largest economy is leaving the common market and the EU customs union.
The current deal concerns trade in goods but not financial services, the sector that has made London the only financial capital in the world that can compete with New York. The British economy is 80 percent driven by services.
Trading in goods will be surrounded by more rules and bureaucracy and will therefore cost more. Everything from food safety regulations to industry-specific certifications will change.
Outbursts of fire
Difficult negotiations over several months have obviously been hampered by the crown pandemic and also interrupted by heated events in both London and Paris.
According to Reuters, Britain’s imports from the EU are worth about $ 107 billion more than exports there. Fishing issues were discussed in detail overnight, which is important to Britain’s small fishing fleet, but that sector still accounts for only 0.1 per cent of UK GDP.
The president of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, called the agreement “fair and balanced” at a press conference in Brussels. Photo: Francisco Seco / AP / TT
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