Politics
“Decisive step” in Brexit negotiations presented to journalists during the press conference of Michel Barnier (European Commission negotiator) after meeting his colleague David Davis (UK Secretary of State for withdrawal from the EU). An agreement was reached on a large part of the “joint legal text” of the Brexit agreement, which Barnier is going to submit to the Brexit working group of the European Parliament, the Council of General Affairs, and the European Commission on Wednesday and to the Council of Europe on Friday. The Council of Europe is asked “to judge the status of negotiations”. It is the third version of the text presented last 28 February. The points agreed upon on the rights of citizens and the financial regulations were “legally translated” in the text. The text defines the limited period of the transition: starting on 30 March 2019 and ending on 31 December 2020. In that period, “Great Britain will no longer take part in EU decisions, but will enjoy the benefits of the single market and the Customs Union; in the same way, it will have to abide by the rules”; the citizens arriving in the UK in those months will enjoy the same rights as those of the citizens arriving before 31 March 2019. It will be the “period for negotiating” new agreements between the EU and the United Kingdom, in order to define future relations; it will also be the period in which “after 40 years, we will sign new agreements with old and new allies in the world, entering into force after the end of the transition period”, said Davis. Progress made includes agreements about customs procedures, goods circulation, nuclear, and trademark protection. “Data protection and acknowledgement of legal proceedings” have to be examined. EU and UK are still diverging on the “governance of the withdrawal agreement”, and on the question of Northern Ireland. Both parties agree on avoiding border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland: Davis confirms that as well as the will to “respect the Good Friday agreement”. So that is a problem. Today, a “future agenda” was drawn up to face the Irish question in the next few weeks.
