Brexit deal is said to be “95%” closed

The Brexit agreement “it may be possible”Even if it must be approved by the European Parliament during a session between Christmas and the New Year. A trade and security agreement “It would be 95% finished”, as the negotiators informed the European ambassadors. There are differences in competition, fishing and standards, which can further destroy negotiation.

An end in the middle of the new normal. The chief negotiator, Frenchman Michael Barnier, is isolated because a member of his team has tested positive for Covid 19. Negotiations continued digitally with the main protagonists and will continue in the coming days online. He is replaced by the European Commissioner, Ilse Juhanzone.

She told representatives of the 27 countries in Brussels on Friday that most of the 11 points of the negotiation have “Common legal texts, with some points of disagreement”, according to a diplomatic source consulted.

The biggest differences

The biggest differences lie in competition to avoid distortions, standards and fishing. A touching point for the French, who want to access with their fishermen what British waters would henceforth be for the Brexiters sovereignists. The British want to get out of the treaty and the French are fiercely opposed.

The rush is such because times are shortening that Juhanzone said the agreement cannot be translated into all 24 languages ​​of the European Union. But the French ambassador insisted that the translation of the agreement into French would be essential. “For France to approve the agreement” , “In the name of legal certainty.”

If the agreement only includes European competences, the approval of the European Parliament is required. But if the process becomes complicated and affects other areas, the approval of national parliaments will be necessary.

If there are no more differences, the provisional agreement can come into force on January 1 then national parliaments ratified it later.

But member states want their MPs to discuss the details of the deal in the next month and a half. Like the British Parliament, to which Boris Johnson is committed.

Parliamentary approval

The European Parliament must give its consent before 31 December. Otherwise, the agreement it should be postponed. An idea that worries Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who, with his terrible socio-economic political crisis, cannot cope with further Brexit delays and prefers to leave without agreement.

But he is under pressure from US President-elect Joe Biden, who wants to make sure he does not betray the Good Friday agreement for peace in Northern Ireland, otherwise the United States will not sign a free trade with the kingdom.

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, was shown More optimistic at a press conference. “After difficult weeks with very, very slow progress, we have now seen better progress in the last few days, more movement on important issues. It’s good, ”he said.

“In the context of a level playing field, progress has been made, for example, on the issue of state aid. But there are still quite a few meters to go. So there is still a lot of work to be done. As far as deadlines are concerned, the time pressure is undoubtedly very strong at the moment, ”he explained.

“The whole team is committed and works tirelessly, day and night, to reach the natural deadline: you have to finish before the end of the year“, underlined the President of the European Commission.

The EU “estimates that the Brexit deal is 95% complete.” The legal text of a trade agreement is now “finalized” in almost all areas, “covering almost all subjects”, said a French diplomat.

What about fishing?

Commissioner Juhansone replaced Michael Barnier in the negotiations. He warned that problems persist in three well-established areas: fisheries, governance and competition rules, often referred to as a “level playing field”.

“In these areas, the UK has not made significant progress,” he told the meeting. He clarified that “there will be no economic association” without an agreement in these areas.

However, negotiators debated a compromise on fisheries, which would see future consideration, and a possible amendment to any Brexit deal.

Other points of disagreement include the health service delivery from UK to EU workers, child benefits, financial services, freight access and intellectual property.

Accelerated trading

Helga Schmid, Secretary General of the EU Foreign Affairs Department, was also present at the meeting. He told the ambassadors that the UK had shown “a lack of enthusiasm to reach an agreement on foreign, security and defense policy. But he admitted that now he was seeing changes.

Despite these differences, Michael Barnier’s assessment was optimistic: a deal is possible “if the political will exists and the general balance is maintained.”

Juhansone expressed at the meeting that there was “a commitment to find viable solutions” to reach an agreement, then ratified, in time for the end of the transition period on December 31.

Another proposal under consideration is that the European Parliament retain an emergency meeting between Christmas Day and New Years Eve consent to the agreement.