Cian Hassett, Global Graduate London, Bord Bia - The Irish Food Board
Michel Barnier warned on Thursday of “very, very difficult” areas of disagreement with the UK after the first round of negotiations on the EU’s future relationship with the UK ended in Brussels. Mr Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, said this week’s meetings highlighted four areas of “very serious divergence” including fishing rights in UK waters, the role of the European Court of Justice, Britain’s determination not to align with EU rules, and how any future deal is policed. Mr Barnier was particularly critical of Britain’s insistence that fishing rights to its waters are decided by annual negotiations with the EU, something the British government says reflects its future status as an independent coastal state.
After weeks of noisy build-up, talks on the future relationship between the UK and EU finally got under way on Monday with more than 200 officials from both sides involved in the discussions at a conference centre near the centre of Brussels. Britain and Brussels have pledged to work intensively to reach an agreement by the end of this year, when the UK post-Brexit transition period is due to end, meaning the country will leave the EU’s single market and customs union. But the two sides have entered the negotiations with opposing positions on a number of critical areas. David Frost, the UK’s chief negotiator, has emphasised Britain’s determination to escape the EU’s regulatory orbit and assert its sovereign rights, while the EU’s starting point is that extensive market access must be linked to respect for the bloc’s rules.
Mr Barnier said there would be no EU-UK trade agreement unless Britain gives ground on fish. The EU has entered the future relationship negotiations seeking to retain its existing rights to fish in British waters, and to strike a deal that gives long term certainty to its anxious fleet.
Britain and EU hunker down for talks. On Monday in the European Commission’s headquarters in Brussels, the two sides kicked off negotiations on their future relationship. The talks will cover everything from trade in goods to internal security co-operation and regulations on fishing – a major sticking point so far. In the increasingly fractious build up, Britain emphasised its political independence and warned it is prepared to side-line talks as early as June. EU Officials have emphasised market access will only come with policy and regulatory alignment from Britain. Although trade experts believe a deal is possible, failure to reach an agreement would lead to a new cliff-edge scenario, including tariffs on trade and a scramble to find new ways to maintain law-enforcement and security co-operation.
During the first week of talks, the UK’s chief Brexit negotiator David Frost, and his EU counterpart Michel Barnier will meet along with their top aides to try to agree on logistics for the negotiations. The first week’s talks will finish on Thursday with a final plenary session to take stock of progress and problems. For the moment, the official line from both sides is that everything is a priority. That is why the topics for the talks have not been sequenced: all the big issues will be tackled at the same time. A high-level meeting in June between British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and European Council president Charles Michel will be a crucial moment to assess what realistically can be achieved by the end of the year.
The EU trade commissioner has warned European companies that they need to do more to prepare themselves for the jolt of the UK leaving the bloc’s single market, saying businesses risked a “logistical nightmare” if they did not grasp the new reality. Phil Hogan said that companies and public authorities should resort to contingency plans they developed over recent years for coping with a no-deal Brexit, saying that the British government’s decision to seek a more distant relationship with the EU meant there would inevitably be a big change to trading conditions. He continued to say he was very concerned at the lack of sufficient plans currently in place, adding that the last thing UK trade needed to see was a logistical nightmare for exporters at ports and airports due to not being properly prepared.
His comments emphasise the limits of what can be achieved for business by the tariff-free, quota-free trade deal that Britain and the EU will seek to negotiate. Talks on the new agreement began on Monday in Brussels, as the two sides seek to settle the terms of their new relationship before the end of Britain’s post-Brexit transition period on December 31st. Boris Johnson has emphasised that his overriding priority in the talks is to secure Britain’s economic and political independence from the EU, even if that means frictions that complicate life for the country’s business. The UK’s chief negotiator, David Frost, said last month that the country was ready to bear the cost of new barriers to trade.
Key Dates
11th March 2020: UK Budget released
18th-19th June 2020: UK/EU summit to discuss progress
30th June 2020: Deadline for the UK and EU to extend the transition period
31st December 2020: If a trade deal has been agreed by this date, new relationship with EU starts. Otherwise, the UK exits transition period without a trade deal.
31st December 2022: Last date to which transition period can be extended