The pact on the output of the United Kingdom of the European Union, closed last week on a technical level, has suffered this Wednesday, his first stumbling block. The European Commission has not achieved the consensus necessary to support the text, locked until at least this Thursday. The mishap occurred a few hours before the president of the Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker met in Brussels with the british prime minister, Theresa May, to pave the way toward an agreement at the moment is complicated.
The first stumbling block occurred during a meeting of the Commission to which I was invited to by the negotiator in chief for europe, Michel Barnier, to defend the goodness of the 585 pages of the document. But the lack of consensus among the commissioners has prevented the turn on the first green light in a straight end which is provided for complicated in London, but very simple in Brussels.
The shock of the commissioners has led to the first emergency response to ensure that does not collapse the european summit next Sunday, in which it is expected that the 27 members of the EU approve both the agreement of exit as a political Statement on the future relationship with London.
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Juncker has been forced to cancel your shift, this Thursday, to Gran Canaria, where he hoped to attend a meeting of the presidents of the outermost regions of the EU. “Because of the many important developments in these moments, the president has decided to cancel their visit to Spain. The president will stay in Brussels”, said the official spokesperson of the EC.
community Sources indicated, further, that this Thursday it will convene an extraordinary meeting of the college of commissioners to try to the agency to give the go-ahead to the draft agreement and the draft of the Declaration. The Commission has not confirmed officially that this possible appointment.
The block of text that has complicated the meeting of the Juncker with May, because the president of the Commission has not been able to provide the prime minister a precise position on the european side. After the meeting, about two and a half hours, a spokesman of the Commission only noted that “progress has been achieved very good and the work continues”.
May arrived in addition to with large claims about the Declaration’s future, in which you try to secure a privileged treatment for the Uk, but has met with demands of european, as reflected in the division of the Commission, which can complicate the support in London to that Statement.
The meeting of the Commission, according to sources in the agency, was stalled on Wednesday in the same points that are causing resistance between the Gobahis 27 european Governments, with France and Spain to head: clarifications about the transitional period of the output (in the Uk will enjoy full access to the european market), a certain commitment on the part of London that will allow european ships to fish in british waters and, in the case of the Spanish, assurances that the agreement will not doubt that Madrid will always have the last word on the future relationship of Gibraltar with the EU.
The community organization working to forced marches in the night of Wednesday to overcome the pitfalls encountered. The team Barnier has warned about the risk of touching the departure agreement, a fragile balance between the interests of british and european. The Commission also prefers that the possible clarifications or exceptions are incorporated into the policy Statement, a text is much more malleable because bonus veren siteler it has no legal value and can be offered to older interpretations. Spain insists that it has complied with any instrument (declaration, annex, etc) provided it is expressed with clarity its position on Gibraltar.
Both the Commission and the president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, insist that despite of all the approval process of the Brexit is on track and expect setbacks. In an effort to present the text of Barnier as a fait accompli, Tusk has been envisaged that the european summit to start the nine and a half Sunday morning and will be completed in just an hour and a half. Then the 27 will meet with the british prime minister, Theresa May, during a single hour to dismiss both the departure agreement as the Declaration on the future.
According to the optimistic plan of Tusk, all of the extraordinary session of the Brexit just will last 150 minutes and at noon, will proceed with the press conference end. “Right now, today [Wednesday] the text had to have come out of the Commission and has not been able to be” appreciated the optimism of Tusk, a european source with a certain air of sly.
The commissioners ─one country─ they expect to review this Thursday, with the information that will be incorporated into the future covenant with Brexit. If they are overcome the reluctance, the texts will also be reviewed by the representatives in the negotiation of the 27 countries, before your transfer to the summit of Sunday. And if it goes ahead it will start a process of ratification in the european Parliament and in the british Parliament that is expected to be completed in February 2019 at the very latest. In time for the Brexit is consumed on the 29th of march, and the United Kingdom begin to be a third country from the next day.
London to claim a special treatment for
London is expected to start at the european summit this Sunday to make a political Statement that the european club is committed to treat the United Kingdom as an external partner privileged. The first draft of the text prepared by the negotiating team european under the direction of Michel Barnier already offers the country’s outgoing a deal clearly in favor.
The two parties undertake to reach an economic relationship and trade without tariffs or restrictions for any type of product. And in the services sector, which is essential for the british economy, it is marked as meta liberalization “far beyond” what is expected in the framework of the World Trade Organization.
The Statement also pose the basis to which the Uk is able to participate in certain missions of european defence policy or access to certain police databases. And in judicial cooperation, it suggests the possibility of keeping the process expeditious extradition with a de facto implementation of the european arrest warrant and delivery.
Brussels also threatened to set the conditions for the Uk to continue to participate in Union programmes concerning, for example, to science, innovation, education, capabilities of defence or civil protection.
