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LONDON – The United Kingdom and the European Union announced Monday the signing, sealing and signing of their divorce agreement within a few days while British Prime Minister Theresa May was waiting to see if the rebel legislators opposed to the agreement had the numbers to challenge his authority.
The draft agreement reached last week triggered an avalanche of criticism in Britain and forced May to fight to retain his post while British and European negotiators ran to confirm a final deal before the week's summit. where European leaders hope to approve it.
The 585-page legally binding withdrawal agreement is nearly complete, but Britain and the EU still need to spell out a much less detailed seven-page statement on their future relations.
May said that an "intense week of negotiations" was coming to finalize the framework.
The deal exasperated pro-Brexit legislators of May's conservative party. The Brexiteers want a clean break with the bloc and argue that the close trade relations advocated in the deal agreed by the May-May government would let Britain become a vassal state, tied to the EU rules on which it is based. has no influence.
Two ministers, including Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab, have resigned in protest and the rebels are trying to gather the signatures of 48 legislators needed to trigger a vote of no confidence.
The pro-Brexit Conservative legislator, Simon Clarke, on Monday urged his hesitant colleagues to join the rebellion, stating "it is clear to me that the captain is leading the ship on the rocks."
Even if May sees such a challenge, she still has to get the agreement approved by Parliament. Its Conservatives do not have a parliamentary majority and it is not certain that it can convince enough legislators to support the agreement.
May argues that dropping the plan, with the withdrawal of Britain in a little over four months on March 29, could result in the delay or abandonment of Brexit, or a disorderly and economically damaging Brexit .
Labor Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said his MPs would vote against May's deal and also try to block a "no agreement" exit.
He said that "the world of work will not accept a Brexit without agreement", which could provoke upheavals for businesses and citizens. But we do not know what would happen if Parliament rejected the agreement at a vote, probably next month.
Some conservative "Brexiteers" say the prime minister should try to renegotiate the Brexit deal – something that May and other EU leaders insist he's impossible.
The agreement must also be approved by the European Parliament. Manfred Weber, who heads the largest group in the EU legislature, the center-right European People's Party, said his initial assessment of the agreement was "very encouraging, very positive".
"Our UK partners must clearly understand that there will be no renegotiation of this text currently on the table," said Weber in Berlin.
Luxembourg's Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean Asselborn said the agreement "is the best possible".
"There is no better choice for this crazy Brexit," said Asselborn, at the meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels ahead of the leaders' summit on Sunday, during which the bloc has Intention to sign the agreement.
Although most of the controversial negotiating issues were resolved, Spain insisted that it was necessary to further clarify how Gibraltar, the British territory located at the southern tip of the peninsula Iberian, would be treated.
EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier said that EU ministers "accepted the principle" of a single extension of the post-Brexit transition period if both parties need more time to finalize a trade agreement. Under the divorce agreement, Britain agrees to be bound by EU rules during the transition. It should end in December 2020 but can be extended by mutual agreement if both parties need more time.
Barnier would not give a specific end date for the extension. This is a delicate question for May, as some members of her party fear that the extension can be used to trap Britain indefinitely in the EU rules.
May says any extension must be completed before the next British election, scheduled for the first half of 2022.
May attempted to generate public and commercial support for the deal on Monday, saying to the British economic lobby group, the Confederation of British Industry, that it "meets the wishes of the British people" to leave the EU, by regaining control of UK laws, money and borders.
May confirmed the government's plan to end the automatic right of EU citizens to live and work in the UK, saying that Britain's future immigration policy would be based on skills rather than on the nationality.
She said EU nationals would no longer be able to "queue up in front of Sydney engineers or software developers from Delhi" – a phrase that was likely to upset even more citizens of the country. EU in Britain, who faced more than two years of uncertainty about their future status. .
British companies, wishing to put an end to the uncertainties about the rules they will face after Brexit, have generally welcomed the agreement. But some are unhappy with immigration plans, which have not yet been revealed in detail.
Carolyn Fairbairn of the Confederation of British Industries said "that a new immigration system represents a radical change", and urged the government not to make "a false choice between highly skilled and less skilled workers" which would leave many sectors with a lack of staff.
May said that she was confident that the agreement "will work for the UK".
"And no one doubts anything, I'm determined to deliver it," she said.
In Brussels, the Austrian Minister for Europe, Gernot Bluemel, had a more melancholy tone.
"A painful week in European politics is starting," he said. "We have divorce papers on the table; 45 years of difficult marriage come to an end. "
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Raf Casert reported from Brussels.
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See the AP cover on Brexit at: https://www.apnews.com/Brexit
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