The British government and the European Commission published, Saturday, December 26, the entire historic agreement framing their post-Brexit relations, a text of more than 1,200 pages, which they must adopt in just a few days before its application , December 31 at midnight.
In particular, allowing the introduction of customs duties and quotas in trade between the United Kingdom and the European Union (EU) and the closure of British waters for European fishermen, the text has exactly 1,246 pages, to which s ‘add explanatory notes and side agreements on nuclear cooperation or the exchange of classified information. “The result of many months of intensive work”, recalled the European negotiator, Michel Barnier, announcing, on Twitter, publication of agreements. Despite this complexity, both parties are preparing for a forced adoption.
“It is one of the largest agreements ever concluded, which covers not only goods but also services, aviation, road transport, social security, health cooperation, maintenance of order”, estimated, Saturday, his British counterpart David Frost. “It is a moment of national renewal”, he insisted, stressing that this agreement allowed the United Kingdom to leave the single market and the European customs union without alignments with the EU, nor role granted to the Court of Justice of the European Union.
British debut on Wednesday
In Brussels, after a first meeting on Friday of the ambassadors of the Twenty-Seven around Michel Barnier, a new meeting is scheduled for Monday to launch the signing of the project by the member states. They will also have to decide on a provisional application because the European Parliament will be able to ratify it only at the beginning of 2021. On the British side, the deputies are called to return from vacation to debate the text on Wednesday. Its adoption leaves little doubt, even the Labor opposition intending to support it.
After four and a half years of uncertainty and heartbreak following the 2016 referendum, this deal offers companies “The certainty and the ability to prepare for growth and investments” and hope that “The policy is evolving towards a better environment”, assured in the Times British Minister Michael Gove. “We can develop a new friendly cooperation with the EU, a special relationship”, he added, using the expression traditionally characterizing the American-British relationship.
With this trade treaty, the Union offers its former Member State unprecedented access, without customs duties or quotas, to its immense market of 450 million consumers. This opening will be accompanied by strict conditions: companies across the Channel will have to comply with a certain number of rules in terms of the environment, labor law and taxation to avoid any dumping. Regarding fishing, a difficult subject until the last hours, the agreement provides for a transition period until June 2026, at the end of which European fishermen will gradually give up 25% of their catches.
