Normally it takes 136 days for Brussels to approve a trade deal, but with Brexit this may have to be done in a day. According to Brexit reporter Kati Piri, the deadline is already so close that it is really too late to make a deal.
Its side effects? “Even if the deal is closed now, we may be in a no-deal scenario for a short period of time,” says Piri. Extended, but the deadline is now very close. If no agreement is reached by January 1, a no-deal Brexit will follow.
Burning in the European Parliament
After a meeting yesterday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and EU President Ursula von der Leyen said they want to go to great lengths to reach an agreement. Assuming it still succeeds in the coming weeks, the European Parliament and the British House of Commons still have to approve. But the PvdA MEP for the European Parliament Piri and the Brexit rapprochement fear it is almost too late.
“Normally it takes the European Parliament an average of 136 days to approve a trade deal, now we are expected – if a deal comes through – to do it as quickly as a day on 28 or 29 December. Parliament I’m very jealous about it,” says Peary. As for Brexit synergies, they are regularly updated by Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator.
Brexit
The United Kingdom formally left the European Union on January 31, 2020, so Brexit was already a fact. Negotiations are now underway on a trade deal that will take effect from January 1. If no trade agreement is reached by the end of the year, it means tariffs on goods on both sides and possibly no access to British waters for European fishermen.
deadline next friday
According to Piri, voting at the end of December is possible only if a trade deal is concluded before next Friday. “The agreement has 700 pages. Everything has to be translated and we have to get all the legal texts. We wonder if lawmakers will have enough time to prepare for the vote.”
According to Piri, due to this paucity of time, the European Parliament is considering pulling out a vote on a possible agreement before 1 January. “This is possible in two scenarios: either we end up in a no-deal scenario after the turn of the year until approved by the European and British parliaments. Or the trade agreement is offered only with the approval of the heads of government. The European and British Parliament will vote on it in January and can then reverse it.”
read also
emergency measures no deal
All of these scenarios assume that a deal will still be struck. According to Pirie, neither the European Union nor British Prime Minister Boris Johnson intends to walk away from the negotiating table. Both sides do not want to be blamed for a no-deal Brexit. This may ensure that they continue to negotiate till December 31.
“Still, a decision must be made in the last days of December whether emergency measures will be negotiated,” Piri says.
British planes should still be able to land in Europe
Because if a deal doesn’t work out, some measures will have to be introduced to ensure that British aircraft can still land on European soil and that trucks can cross the border after January 1. But these emergency measures still need to be negotiated.
For example, the European Union is proposing that in the event of no deal, European fishermen will continue fishing in British waters for the next 12 months as they are doing now. For the United Kingdom, which seeks sovereignty over its waters, this is out of the question.