The third Brexit negotiating meeting between the United Kingdom and the EU27 will take place next week, a few days after publication of new UK negotiating positions.
On Monday 21 August, a spokesperson for the European Commission, Alexander Winterstein, said the upcoming negotiating session would begin in the week beginning Monday 28 August. It is not certain that the talks will resume on the Monday, since it is a bank holiday in much of the United Kingdom.
The Commission is pleased with recent and upcoming negotiating position documents published by the UK authorities in specific issues, viewing them as a good way of getting the talks back on track. The EU27 has already published nine documents setting out its negotiating position (see EUROPE 11819).
Responding to the UK’s desire to enter talks rapidly on the UK’s future relationship with the EU, the EU refers to statements by its chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, based on the negotiating mandate from the EU27 countries’ leaders: ‘The quicker #UK & EU27 agree on citizens, settling accounts and #Ireland, the quicker we can discuss customs & future relationship.’
On Sunday, the UK’s Brexit minister, David Davis, said in the Sunday Times that the first two negotiating sessions had sown the inextricable links between various issues relating to Brexit and the question of future relations. He hoped to see rapid progress on future relations between the EU27 and the UK after the European Summit in October.
At the October summit, the EU27 is expected to indicate whether there has been sufficient progress in the Brexit talks to allow unanimous launch of discussions on future relations. The annual conference of the ruling British Conservative party also takes place in October (see EUROPE 11839).
New British negotiating positions
On Monday, the British authorities published two negotiating documents, one on the marketing of goods and the other on access to documents.
On the marketing of goods, the UK says that products on the market before the date of Brexit can continue to be sold after Brexit. This rule should also apply to products undergoing an authorisation process that has not ended by the date of the British withdrawal, expected to be 31 March 2019. Any agreement between the UK and the EU is expected to facilitate continued control of products and any action relating to non-compliance. Finally, the British authorities says that services related to the marketing of goods should continue to be supplied without restriction.
Before the third negotiating session, London is due to publish a negotiating position on legal competence for dispute settlement.
On Tuesday 15 August, Theresa May’s government published its negotiating position for post-Brexit customs questions, which talks of a transition period of around two years during which virtually nothing would change and the UK would enter trade agreements with countries outside the EU. Following that, a trade agreement would allow the freer trade in good with as little friction as possible.
‘On customs, the Commission takes note of the UK request for an implementing period and its preferences as regards the future relationship. We will only address them once sufficient progress has been made on the terms of the withdrawal,’ said another European Commission spokesperson, Annika Breidthardt, adding: ‘Frictionless trade is not possible outside the single market and customs union.’
The British negotiating document on the goods market can be found at: http://bit.ly/2w67SZj. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)