On Tuesday 12 December, EU ministers for European Affairs examined the state of negotiations with United Kingdom, following the preliminary agreement the two parties reached on Friday 8 December on the terms of the first phase of the divorce (see EUROPE 11922). Together with the head European negotiator, Michel Barnier, they warned London against any attempt to undermine or not respect this first agreement of principle.
Ministers are expected to prepare the conclusions of the European Council meeting in an "Article 50” group on Friday 15 December. This group is normally expected to authorise the transition to the second phase of the talks, which will tackle the transition period and principles of the future partnership between London and the EU.
The ministers were informed about the negotiations by Michel Barnier and prepared the guidelines the European leaders are normally expected to adopt. This meeting of the General Affairs Council was held, however, in a context of tension following the ideas expressed by the British Head of State for Brexit, David Davis, for whom the preliminary agreement last Friday is not binding. During a press conference, the EU's negotiator, Michel Barnier, pointed out that they needed to remain “cautious and calm" and it would first of all be up to the European Council to validate this first phase.
Even if this were the case, “We will only have a final agreement if the political commitments made on Friday are respected" throughout the second phase and “We are going to be vigilant", responded Michel Barnier, in an echo to the conclusions also reached in this sense by the ministers. He also added that, “We will not agree to any backtracking" and pointed out that work still needed to be concluded on this first phase, particularly with regard to the Irish problem, which has still not obtained a precise solution, as well as on Euratom and dossiers such as personal data protection and upon which work has not even begun.
Michel Barnier also warned David Davis that an agreement on the future partnership, particularly on trade, between the United Kingdom and EU would obviously not be signed the day after the United Kingdom effectively leaves the EU. If the work in the second phase allows for the main lines of the future agreement to be defined, it will, however, be impossible to really be negotiated and finalised until the United Kingdom has left.
In concrete, the EU negotiator explains that the Europeans would be able to begin in January on the work involving the transition period requested by London but that further clarification would be necessary from the United Kingdom on the kind of trade agreement sought in order to begin talks on the parameters of the agreement.
Additional guidelines will be necessary and, according to the draft text of the Friday conclusions revealed by the Financial Times, it will not be until March 2018 that the European leaders would be able to adopt them, which would therefore only leave seven months to the two parties to define their future relations.
Michel Barnier considered that, "That could begin as early as January, firstly with the transition" and that the work could begin on the basis of the two-year period requested on 22 September in Florence by the British Prime Minister Theresa May. “There are no new elements" in the outlines of the trade agreement and future relations and the EU will be working on the basis of the redlines set out by London, namely, its refusal to belong to the Customs Union and Single Market.
Michel Barnier considers that the period now opening up until the European Council in March therefore illustrate the “final appeal" addressed to the British government to provide more details “in its vision of the future partnership with the EU”. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)