The European Commission has managed to close this Thursday the Political Declaration on the future relationship of the EU with the United Kingdom, an essential document for the covenant on the Brexit that are expected to achieve at the european summit next Sunday. The document, 26 pages and 147 paragraphs, with the approval preliminary of London.
I have just sent to EU27 to draft Political Declaration on the Future Relationship between EU and UK. The Commission President has informed me that it has been agreed at negotiators’ level and agreed in principle at the political level, subject to the endorsement of the Leaders.
— Donald Tusk (@eucopresident) November 22, 2018
The text sent to the capital for your valuation excludes any reference to the conflict between London and Madrid by the status of Gibraltar after the exit of the Uk from the EU. Community sources claim that this dispute, like others that have arisen with other members of the Union, will be resolved with declarations annexed to the main document. It remains to be seen if the Government of Pedro Sanchez will be satisfied with that formula or maintains his threat to veto the next Sunday of the covenant on the Brexit.
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For the moment, the Political Declaration, the who had access THE COUNTRY, has eliminated any direct reference to article 184 of the departure Agreement, which had provoked the ire of the Spanish Government. The Executive of Pedro Sanchez interprets this article have not made it clear that the future relationship of the Rock with the Union will always depend on the approval of Spain, and not a mere agreement between Brussels and London.
“Deputy, I will accompany the draft of the Political Declaration that sets the framework of the future relationship between the european Union and the United Kingdom. Has been agreed between negotiators and accepted in principle at the political level, subject to the approval of the leaders of [the European Council],” says the president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, in the letter that refers the text to the president of the Council, Donald Tusk.
The british prime minister, Theresa May, in a brief appearance at Downing Street, has been advanced that the statement of the Brexit is “appropriate” for the United Kingdom, to comply with the will expressed by the voters in a referendum in 2016. May go this afternoon (at 16.00 hours) to the british Parliament to assess the text, informs Rafa de Miguel.
The pact paves one of the difficulties encountered in the final of the Brexit. The statement should have been approved Wednesday, but the issues raised by a number of european commissioners (related to Gibraltar, the fishing quotas and the duration of the transitional period) prevented close to the pact during a meeting held last night the president of the Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, and the prime minister, Theresa May. Brussels now confident that this compact exceeds the differences that have arisen in the last few hours.
The 27 EU Governments Netspor reviewed in these moments the statement and waits for a response for this Friday. If it were positive, Juncker will meet with May on Saturday and could be close provisionally, the pact of Brexit, waiting for the meeting of the European Council on Sunday.
Tusk has called for the summit at 9.00, with the hope of limiting it to ratify the agreement approved by the two parties. If you overcome all the pitfalls, Tusk bet for a summit quick-just two and a half hours and to proclaim the ultimate covenant to 12 noon. It would be the starting gun for the ratification of the Agreement (in the british Parliament and in the European Parliament) and to begin to prepare for the future relationship envisaged in the policy statement.
The declaration offers to London exceptional in all areas, from the commercial judicial cooperation, from defense policy to the outdoor. And recognizes that in the future these areas “could be extended beyond what is described in this policy Statement”.
May need an important commitment of the EU on the maintenance of future relationships to compensate for the many concessions he has made in the departure Agreement, from accepting a bill of almost 50,000 million euros to recognize indefinitely the rights of almost four million europeans who reside on british soil.
But the goal of a relationship so ambitious could also turn against the prime minister because both parties recognize in the statement that the future relationship could go so far as to lead to an agreement of association in the United Kingdom to the EU.
This type of agreement would relegate the Uk to a status usually linked to the countries that aspire to join the Union or that they belong to their neighbourhood. And would force them to keep mutual rights and obligations with the EU, and a control of follow-up. Is the status of countries such as Morocco or Ukraine, a prospect not very flattering to the advocates of Brexit, which promised a total break and final, Brussels.
Extension of the transition until 2023
Brussels has also finalized by this Thursday the duration of the possible extension of the transitional period of the output, initially forecast between the march 30, 2019 (the day after Brexit) and December 31, 2020. The Commission proposes that this period may extend for one or two years as a maximum, a decision that should be implemented in mid-2020. If approved the maximum period of time, the Brexit is not to be consummated until January 1, 2023, nearly seven years after the referendum in June 2016 and approved the exit from the EU.
The extension, at the request of the United Kingdom and subject to agreement of the EU, it would be necessary if at the end of the transitional period had not reached an agreement on the future trade agreement between the two parties. During the transition, London must comply with the community legislation (the current one and the one that was enacted) and the case-law of the european Court of Justice. In addition, as of 2021 should be negotiated a financial contribution of London to the coffers in the community each year in the Uk press and access to the european internal market.
