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LONDON – British Prime Minister Theresa May was faced on Thursday with many critics from skeptical lawmakers while she was trying to present a draft agreement on a post-Brexit relationship with the Union. as a "good agreement for our country".
Speaking before the House of Commons after the publication of a 26-page draft political statement with the EU on post-Brexit relations, May said the agreement would guarantee a departure "smooth and orderly" Britain's European Union. Britain officially leaves the EU of the 28 member countries – the first country to do so – on March 29th.
"The draft text we approved with the (European) Commission is a good agreement for our country and for our EU partners," May said.
May is due to go to Brussels on Saturday for new meetings at Brexit, including with Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker a day before the summit of 27 other EU leaders during which the political declaration on Relations after the Brexit and divorce agreement, which alone has a legal status, should be formally signed.
The withdrawal agreement will soon be sealed to allow enough time for the European Parliament and the British Parliament to approve it.
May told lawmakers that the broad outlines of the future help protect jobs, end the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice in the UK, give more control to British fishermen and avoid return from a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, EU member of the United Kingdom.
She also said the agreement paves the way for a free trade deal with the bloc, while allowing Britain to enter into new trade agreements around the world.
But his optimistic forecasts have met resistance on many fronts in Parliament, which is expected to vote on Brexit next month.
At present, it seems precarious for the Prime Minister given the number of lawmakers who have expressed their dissatisfaction with the proposals, including the 585-page legal treaty that deals with the conditions for leaving Britain, including that the country owes to the EU.
Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the main British Labor Party, criticized the deal on future relations, describing a "26-page waffle" depicting a failure of the Conservative Party and May over two years of negotiations.
Corbyn said that the deal "represents the worst of all worlds" and that Britain will have "no say" over EU rules that will continue to be in place. to apply in Great Britain.
"It's Brexit with blindfold that we all fear," he said. "A jump in the dark."
May will probably need Labor legislators to support her project if she realistically hopes to be approved, given that her Conservative party does not have a majority in the House of Commons.
May was also the subject of criticism from conservative Brexite supporters, including Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg, and those who urged May to support a second referendum on the Brexit proposal.
If May fails to win a majority in Parliament, we do not know what will happen next. Some lawmakers argue that the country would eventually collapse out of the EU on Brexit Day without any agreement, a scenario in which tariffs could be slapped on exports and restrictions placed on workers. Others hope that Parliament could support a second referendum in the hope that the public would cancel all that.
The political declaration was approved at the technical level by the negotiators and approved Thursday by the European Commission, the EU's executive body, which oversees negotiations on Brexit.
"This declaration sets the parameters for an ambitious, broad, deep and flexible partnership in the areas of commercial and economic cooperation, law enforcement and criminal justice, foreign policy, security and defense and broader areas of cooperation, "says the document.
He also referred to the close ties that had been established after 45 years of Britain's membership of the European Union and noted that "the parties intend to enter into commercial relations with goods as close as possible in order to facilitate as much as possible". legitimate trade. "
In a speech in Berlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel stressed that "Britain must remain a partner, remain a friend", but she stressed the difficulties that could arise in any attempt to maintain transparent services.
"We have to honestly say that in the service sector we do not have much experience with international free trade agreements," she said.
"But we want to see that as a future relationship."
A stumbling block concerns Gibraltar, the tiny territory located at the end of the Iberian Peninsula, which was ceded to Britain in 1713 but is still claimed by Spain.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said earlier this week that his government "can not accept that" the future of Gibraltar will be determined by negotiations at EU level.
May said Thursday that she had spoken to Sanchez and that she was "confident" that there will be a Sunday resolution "that is valid for the entire British family, including Gibraltar."
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Cook reported from Brussels. Danica Kirka in London and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.
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See the AP cover on Brexit at: https://www.apnews.com/Brexit
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