UK and EU finally sign post-Brexit deal

Britain is leaving Europe with a historic agreement commercial under the arm. The best Christmas gift for the Brexiteers and the most resigned acceptance of the pro-Europeans, who lost the referendum four years ago not to leave the Union. After a negotiation that lasted all night on Wednesday, both they sing victory But there is winners and losers.

The delicately balanced compromise on fisheries, the non-regression of existing standards and the absence of a role for the Court of Justice of the European Communities will be presented as a victory for both parties. The art of diplomacy.

The agreement covers the terms of trade, security and fishingas well as scientific cooperation and regulatory alignment. It also means UK businesses will continue to have free access rates and fees to European markets beyond the end of the year.

“This agreement will create a solid foundation for a longtime friend and we can finally put Brexit behind us. Competition in our market they will be fairIt is time to turn the page and look to the future, ”said European Commission President Ursula Van der Leyen, in English and German. At his side was the European negotiator, Michael Barnier. She thanked him and the Briton David Frost for being “tough but fair negotiators “.

No, to the Erasmus agreement

“I feel calm, satisfaction and relief. I know it’s a tough day for everyone. “To say goodbye is such a sweet pain,” the president said.

Negotiator Michael Barnier said it was “a relief and sadness“, as a consequence. No fees or quotas announced the negotiator of these free trade agreements. an unprecedented deal. Britain refused to continue the Erasmus agreement exchange of students.

An official phone call from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to European Commission President Ursula Van der Leyen ended a psychodrama, which has left the kingdom divided like never before and the rest are tired of hearing about the Brexit.

Press conference on both sides of the Channel, in London and Brussels, ended years of fruitless negotiations and difficult until the last minute. Fishing was the point that kept the differences going until the end, but the brutality of the pandemic and economic fragility amid the coronavirus made everyone more pragmatic.

Despite hopes that the deal would be announced on Wednesday evening, it was delayed as lawyers and negotiators tried to translate final commitments, especially on fisheries, into legally binding text. They worked all Thursday night.

Downing Street sources said the deal would give UK businesses access to EU markets with “zero costs, zero costs”, without the Court of Justice of the European Union playing a role in monitoring the agreement. A demand demanded by ultra Brexiteers. This will be the largest trade agreement signed by either party, worth 668 billion pound sterling.

Barnier lost control

European negotiator, Frenchman Michael Barnier, has lost control of the details in the past 48 hours. A secret conversation between Boris and the President of the European Commission, Úrsula Van der Leyen last Monday, took the negotiations to a level of political leadership in the EU.

Chancellor Angela Merkel on the one hand and President Emmanuel Macron, confined to La Lanterne with coronavirus, were at the origin of these final transactions, Macron and Boris have spoken at least twice. German pragmatism prevailed over Emmanuel Macron’s whim to make Boris Johnson pay a high price, even greater than the closure of the Franco-British border, with 10,000 truckers stranded and at Christmas in the cabs of their trucks. He is convinced Britain will return to the EU in less than a year.

British and European negotiators, lawyers and translators implemented these matches throughout the morning.

The last-minute nature of the negotiations means that the European Parliament will not vote on the deal until December 31. It will have to be ratified “Provisionally” by Member States.

The House of Commons needs 48 hours to meet. It could meet next Sunday for this “express” ratification.

The negotiations

Negotiations continued until late Wednesday night fishing arrangements, one of the last sticking points in the discussions. A long morning of waiting at any minute for the announcement of the agreement. First at midnight, then at 3 a.m. Finally Christmas Eve. The delay and the negotiations that lasted all night were due to the details of fishing quotas. The devil is in the details at the last minute of a historic negotiation.

Johnson had been in contact with Von der Leyen at least four times on Wednesday, after eight months of torturous negotiations. The committee chair was also engaged in furious telephone diplomacy with EU capitals as she sought to push talks to the limit. European leaders favored an exit without further trauma. France had to calm its internal public opinion and its fishermen who had defended them, 18 months before the presidential election.

An official plane was dispatched to retrieve and secure the exhausted delegation of British negotiators, which would be returning to Britain. to celebrate the agreement and Christmas.

Agreement details

The agreement includes unprecedented provisions for zero tariff or charges on all assets. It also explains how they will resolve future agreements on a wide range of issues, aviation and transport civil nuclear cooperation and energy.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson summoned Cabinet on Wednesday at 11 p.m. to announce that the deal was “imminent” and that he needed your help to sell the treaty. Boris’ main problem starts now, when they meet the details. If there are too many concessions, to the “red wall” or red wall, the ultra Brexiteers will accuse it of having ceded in sovereignty. This is the point where he, at least in the manners, I couldn’t give in

The UK left the EU on January 31, following the June 2016 referendum. But it remained in the EU’s single market and customs union for a one-year transition period. This deadline expires on December 31. The agreement sets the conditions for free movement and frictionless trade flows.

Flight war

A war of flight hampered the final hours of the deal. A French official said Britain had made huge concessions on EU fishing rights in UK waters, worth £ 587million to the EU fishing fleet, including a share of 155 million pounds to France. On fisheries in particular, the official said the final British position was “a long way off” from the three-year transition and the 80% reduction in quotas demanded by London at the start of negotiations.

British sources pointed out that exports worth £ 294 billion a year would be saved, without loss of sovereignty. They said the UK would have full control over its waters after a transition, which would last six or seven years, with all quotas subject to annual negotiations and further reductions.

Spokesmen for Downing St have rejected Paris’ demands. But Downing Street faced immediate threats from the European Research Group (ERG) of Conservative Brexiteer supporters.

The fear of ultra brexiteers

One of the delays in the announcement was the Prime Minister’s willingness to prepare the ground with key officials before unveiling the deal. Downing Street was making a series of calls to prominent figures throughout the night from Wednesday to Thursday to woo them.

In a joint statement, the group’s chairman and vice chairman, ultra Brexiteers Mark Francois and David Jones, said they would task a self-proclaimed “star chamber” of lawyers to analyze the treaty provisions before deciding to approve them. They are the other threat to Boris.

The agreement has more than 2000 pages and it will be analyzed by all parties, especially their legislators. Must also be translated in the languages ​​of the 27 countries of the Union.

“The ERG will return this Thursday to the panel of legal experts, chaired by Sir Bill Cash, to examine the details and the legal text,” ultraBrexiteers said. The previously highly experienced team of lawyers known as the ‘Star Chamber’ first met in 2019 to review the legal aspects of Theresa May’s initial retirement agreement.

“Since the new agreement also It’s very complex, the chamber will examine it in detail, to ensure that its provisions effectively protect British sovereignty, after we are out of the transitional period at the end of this year ”, argued the supporters of Brexiteers.

If Brexiteers can be sure, it was given to them by Nigel Farage, the Brexit ideologue: “The war is over. Boris did what he promised to do ”.

In another symbol of Brexit, the first ferry with trucks With pilots with negative Covid, it began to travel up the Channel to the continent on Thursday. France sent its firefighters 10,000 rapid tests to speed up the departure of thousands of stranded truckers, in a picture that synthesized the differences between Britain and the EU.

Paris, correspondent

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