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On Christmas Eve, a week before the end of the Brexit transition period, a landmark agreement was reached on the UK’s future trade and security relationship with the European Union.
As the country leaves the single market and customs union on December 31, new agreements will enter into force that will allow for duty-free trade in goods and close police and judicial cooperation.
The announcement followed a final call between Boris Johnson in Downing Street and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at her Berlaymont headquarters in Brussels, at least the fifth such telephone conversation in the past 24 hours.
The 2,000-page trade agreement is unprecedented in scope and contains provisions on topics ranging from civil nuclear cooperation and energy interconnections to fisheries and aviation.
A 10th spokesperson said: “The deal is done. Everything that was promised to the British public during the 2016 referendum and last year’s general election is delivered on this agreement.
“We have regained control of our money, borders, laws, commerce and our fishing waters. The deal is fantastic news for families and businesses across the UK. We have signed the first free trade agreement based on zero tariffs and zero quotas that has ever been achieved ”.
Von der Leyen was more somber in her comments at a press conference in Brussels.
“At the end of a successful negotiation, I usually feel joy. But today I just feel a quiet satisfaction and, frankly, a relief, ”he said. “I know this is a difficult day for some and for our friends in the UK, I want to tell you that parting is a very sweet pain, but to use the TS Elliot line, what we call the beginning is often the end. And ending is often a beginning. For all Europeans, I think it is time to leave Brexit behind ”.
The deal guarantees “zero tariffs and zero quotas” trade on £ 668bn worth of goods in 2019. But it will also mean significant costs for businesses, as exporters face a series of border controls from 1 January and ends freedom of movement for the majority of UK citizens.
The Downing Street spokesman said, however, that the deal would ensure that the UK “is no longer in the EU lunar tug, we are not bound by EU rules, there is no role for the Court of Justice of the European Union and all of our key red lines have been achieved on the return of sovereignty ”.
The statement continued: “It means that we will have full political and economic independence on January 1, 2021. A points-based immigration system will allow us to control who enters the UK and free movement will end.
“We have delivered this great business for the whole of the UK in record time and under extremely challenging conditions, protecting the integrity of our home market and Northern Ireland’s place within it.
“We have achieved Brexit and can now make the most of the fantastic opportunities available to us as an independent trading nation, by striking trade agreements with other partners around the world.”
The prime minister told his cabinet late Wednesday night that the agreement respected the sovereignty of both parties, and urged leading figures to help him sell it.
On Wednesday, the European Brexiter Research Group of Conservative MPs said it would ask a self-described “star chamber” of lawyers to scrutinize the terms before giving its support.
The deal avoids a no-deal exit that the Office of Budget Responsibility warned would cut Britain’s economic output by £ 40bn in 2021 and cost more than 300,000 jobs.
The UK left the EU on January 31, but has benefited from remaining in the single market and the customs union for the past year, and British citizens retain the right to freedom of movement across the bloc.
The end of the transition period will bring widespread change for British businesses and citizens, as it begins a new chapter in the country’s relationship with its neighbors.
Companies will face additional paperwork and costs when trading with the UK’s largest export market. Freedom of movement for the majority of UK citizens will end, with restrictions imposed on stays in EU member states. As the EU’s “third country”, coronavirus travel restrictions could be imposed on UK citizens from 1 January.
Nonetheless, the agreement will bring great relief to millions of people on both sides, four and a half years since the UK decided to leave the EU in June 2016. The negotiations, held in Brussels and London, had been precariously through a pandemic. , seeming doomed on several points.
Just two weeks ago, Johnson told the Cabinet to prepare for a no-deal exit, warning the public that such an eventuality was “very, very likely.”
The sticking points at the end of the talks had been the EU’s access to British fishing waters and Brussels’ demand for rules that ensured that neither side could gain a competitive advantage in trade, as its rule book diverged. over time.
In recent days, it had been the future access of the EU and quotas in British fishing waters, an issue of small economic impact but of great political relevance for both parties, that made the difference between an agreement and a break in the conversations
The EU had offered a six-year transition period to gradually introduce a 25% reduction in catch per value caught by European fleets in British waters, with guaranteed access to a zone six to 12 nautical miles from the British coast.
Downing Street had tabled a counterproposal for a three-year transition period with a 60% reduction and no access to the nautical zone.
The compromise implies a transition period of five and a half years to introduce the changes, according to the sources, with the United Kingdom accepting a repatriation of 25% of the quotas. But Downing Street has cracked down on attempts by the EU to establish a mechanism under which future quota changes could lead to tariffs on British exports. The problem had been key to No 10’s claims to have regained control of British waters.
Following the announcement of an agreement, the European Commission sent the draft of the treaty to the member states. If all 27 capitals are satisfied with the agreement, the EU council ministers will agree on the provisional application of the agreement on January 1.
The EU ambassadors were due to meet on Thursday morning to take the first step. The European parliament declined to hold a consent vote this year given the lack of time for scrutiny. MEPs will give their opinion at the end of next month.
