On Tuesday 13 November, the European Commission published several documents relating to measures to prepare for the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union and to contingency actions in the event of failure to ratify the agreement between the two parties by 29 March next.
These documents are of course part of the negotiations on the subject, while the outcome is still uncertain as to whether agreement can be reached on an orderly exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union (see EUROPE 12135).
Contingency actions. The first document is a communication that targets several priority areas for which contingency actions are planned in the absence of an agreement between the United Kingdom and its European partners. This follows a first communication on the subject presented on 19 July last (see EUROPE 12066).
The key areas identified in this Communication relate to citizens, and more particularly to their right of residence in one or the other set in the absence of an agreement. This would include considering the period of residence before Brexit in calculating the total duration of the period of legal residence in the EU territory, taking into account the rights attached to it.
Other areas identified are: financial services, transport (in particular air transport), customs, the application of sanitary and phytosanitary rules on products and animals arriving on EU territory, rules on personal data and those relating to climate policy.
The Commission also recalls in its Communication the principles that guide these emergency measures, in particular that they should not replicate the benefits of membership of the Union, that they are temporary or that they do not alter the apportionment of competences between Member States and the EU.
Legislative proposals: visas and energy. In addition, the Commission presented two legislative proposals to prepare the United Kingdom's exit from the EU.
The first is to give British citizens the possibility of not having to apply for a visa for short-term stays in the EU (90 days out of a total period of 180 days). In the absence of an agreement, the relevant provisions would apply from 30 March 2019. A European official clarified that these provisions would only apply in the event of reciprocity on the British side. The Commission recalled in this respect that Theresa May's government had expressed itself to this effect.
The second proposal for a Regulation aims to amend the Energy Efficiency Directive and the Regulation on the Governance of the Energy Union to take into account the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the EU. However, according to the Commission, there is no question whatsoever of calling into question the EU's energy efficiency targets for 2030, as agreed last June (see EUROPE 12045).
Notices. Finally, among the documents published by the Commission, it presented 'notices' to inform citizens and economic and social stakeholders of the practical consequences of a possible lack of agreement from 30 March 2019. These ’instructions for use' cover a wide range of areas, including employment, financial services, energy, justice and transport. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)