The Brexit transition agreement

The European Union and Great Britain have reached an agreement on the terms of a transition deal

Florentin Căpitănescu, 20.03.2018, 12:37

Brexit secretary David Davis and the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier on Monday announced that they had reached a draft agreement on the terms of a transition deal which will take effect once Britain departs in March 2019 lasting until December 2020. Those terms will underlie the EU’s future partnership with Great Britain. The sides reached an agreement on the rights of some 4.5 million EU citizens residing in the United Kingdom and of 1.2 million British citizens residing in EU countries.

During the 20-month transition period, Great Britain will be able to negotiate and sign new free trade deals with the EU. The agreement also includes a financial deal, the citizens’ rights in the transition period and a provisional compromise on the post-Brexit border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Michel Barnier said that the transition period demanded by the United Kingdom would give Britain time to prepare its administration and affairs. The agreement will be debated at the European Council Summit later this week.

In another development, the European Parliament’s Brexit Coordinator, Guy Verhofstadt, said Parliament had taken note of the political agreement on the Brexit transition period but it reserved the right to monitor it. The European Parliament has reiterated that according to procedures, it will be the one to determine the final withdrawal agreement. In turn, the British government argues that the transition agreement with the EU will give more certainty to companies and citizens.

The announcement regarding the terms of the Brexit transition period was made after a day before the UK Parliament Committee supervising the Brexit negotiations had issued a report saying that the withdrawal from the EU might be delayed given the poor progress in the talks between London and Brussels. Great Britain is going to pull out of the Union on March 29, 2019, two years after the withdrawal procedure was put in place under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty and nearly three years after the vote in favour of Brexit at the referendum of June 2016. The negotiations are due to end by October 2018 to allow for the European Parliament and the UK Parliament to ratify the agreement.

(Translated by A.M. Palcu)