They had a week to come to an agreement. Thursday, December 24, after a night and a morning of final negotiations, the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom found common ground on their trade relations after the effective exit of the country from the EU, in 1er January.
This agreement, “Good for Europe and the UK”, pose “Solid foundations for the departure of a longtime friend” and “Will protect European interests”, said the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, during an afternoon press conference with the European negotiator, Michel Barnier. “We can leave Brexit behind us”, she continued, adding that ” the European Union [allait] to be able to take a new step “.
British Secretary of State for International Trade Liz Truss welcomed the news on Twitter. “We will have a solid trade relationship with the EU and deepen our trade with our partners around the world through our independent trade policy”, she wrote. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, meanwhile, posted on Twitter a photo of himself exulting, arms outstretched and thumbs up, with the caption: “The deal has been found”.
The deal is done. https://t.co/zzhvxOSeWz
For his part, Mr. Barnier expressed Thursday his “Relief (…), but tinged with a certain sadness, when we compare what was there before and what awaits us now. “
Ambassadors from the 27 countries of the European Union will meet at 10:30 a.m. on Friday to begin reviewing the deal. Member States still have to approve a procedure for the provisional application of the agreement, so that it enters into force on the first day of the new year, as the European Parliament will not have time to ratify it by then.
British MPs, currently on vacation, are summoned on December 30 to discuss the agreement.
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Fishing at the heart of the discussions
Important disagreements remained until the last moment, notably over the sharing of some 650 million euros of products caught each year by European fishermen in British waters.
Despite its low economic weight, fishing is of political and social importance for several Member States, including France, the Netherlands, Denmark and Ireland. But the British made it the symbol of their regained sovereignty after the divorce.
Formally, the United Kingdom left the EU on January 31, 2020. But it then entered a period of transition during which it remains subject to European rules, and therefore to trade agreements negotiated by the European Commission on behalf of the Member States EU, until December 31, 2020. In the absence of an agreement (“no deal”), exchanges between London and the bloc of Twenty-Seven would have been governed from 1er January 2021 by the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO), synonymous with customs duties, quotas, as well as administrative formalities liable to lead to traffic jams and delivery delays.
The process of leaving the EU was initiated following the British referendum of 23 June 2016, won with 51.9% of the votes by the supporters of Brexit. A first since the creation of the EU.
A “welcome” agreement
The conclusion of a text in barely ten months – four and a half years after the referendum of June 23, 2016 on Brexit – is a feat for London and Brussels, especially for an agreement of this scope.
It took two and a half years to negotiate the withdrawal treaty sealing the British departure, concluded at the end of 2019, a text providing legal certainty to expatriates on both sides of the Channel and 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 a “no deal”, also welcomed an agreement “Welcome”.
With it, the EU offers the United Kingdom unprecedented access, without tariffs or quotas, to its huge market of 450 million consumers. But this openness will be accompanied by strict conditions: companies across the Channel will have to comply with a number of evolving rules over time in terms of the environment, labor law and taxation to avoid any dumping. There are also guarantees for State aid.
A mechanism will allow both parties to quickly activate countermeasures, such as tariffs, in the event of discrepancies on these standards. Without an agreement, the UK would have lost much more than the EU: the British export 47% of their products to the twenty-seven member countries, while the EU only sells 8% of its goods to the other side of the Channel.
Disruptions are still possible
Even with this agreement, disruptions are to be expected from 1er January 2021, when the United Kingdom will truly turn its back on forty-seven years of community life, leaving the single market and the customs union.
When the British unexpectedly voted overwhelmingly in favor of Brexit, there were many in Europe hoping the UK could stay aligned with European standards. The turn will be much more important.
Mr Johnson, figure of the brexiters in 2016, has always displayed its desire to break with the standards of the single market and the customs union, so that the United Kingdom “Take back control” of its sovereignty.
The agreement formalized on Thursday does not concern financial services, which make London the only place to compete with New York. The service sector represents 80% of the UK economy. Access to the European market for banks and insurers established in London is an issue dealt with in parallel with negotiations on this trade agreement.
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