On Wednesday 4 September, the European Commission announced a series of measures to deal with a possible exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union without an agreement on 31 October.
These measures will reduce the effects of a disorderly Brexit, but will not “compensate” for an agreement, a European source warned beforehand.
In particular, the European institution has proposed that the impact on European companies or regions of an exit without an agreement may be invoked to establish eligibility for the EU Solidarity Fund (ESF), which has so far been reserved for natural disasters, as well as the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF).
These measures were announced during a time of chaos across the Channel. On Tuesday evening, Prime Minister Boris Johnson lost a decisive vote to control the calendar until 31 October.
Having approved (with the support of 21 Conservative MPs and former ministers) taking control of the agenda in response to the Prime Minister's suspension of the House of Commons, the MPs of the House of Commons were still called upon, Wednesday evening, to take a more precise decision on the request for a further three-month extension of the negotiating deadline provided for in Article 50 of the Treaty in order to prevent any exit from the EU without agreement.
In response, Mr Johnson announced on Wednesday at noon that early elections would be held on 15 October if MPs approve the proposed postponement.
On Wednesday, in Brussels, the Commission stressed that, in the face of these “twists and turns”, its position is “stable”, said its spokesperson, Mina Andreeva. “We remain ready to work on any concrete proposal” put forth by the British that is compatible with the withdrawal agreement. She also stressed that the institution could be flexible in terms of time. “There is no deadline before 31 October; in the past, the Commission has always been flexible about engaging, as have European leaders. It is still possible to have emergency summits”, she continued.
In the immediate future, however, preparations must be made for an exit from the EU without agreement - and perhaps by accident - which lately is being considered more and more likely, even if “this is not the desired scenario”, the first source reiterated. This is the reason for the measures announced on Wednesday.
With regard to eligibility for the Solidarity Fund and the Globalisation Adjustment Fund, an agreement between the European Parliament and the EU Council will first be required to amend the current arrangements. Since the amounts of these funds are not extensible, part of the €600 million contained in the Solidarity Fund will be available for companies and regions affected by an exit without an agreement, as will €180 million for the Globalisation Adjustment Fund. British stakeholders will be excluded from this type of aid.
In the other measures announced, the Commission has updated certain existing provisions, such as those concerning fisheries, proposing that access to British waters should be maintained until the end of 2020 (it had until now been proposed to last until the end of 2019), subject to reciprocity, of course, providing access to European waters for British fishermen. The same applies to transport, where emergency measures to avoid a sudden interruption of air traffic are further extended until October 2020 and those for land transport until July 2020.
Finally, the Commission has proposed that the United Kingdom, if it so wishes, may - provided that it still contributes to the European budget in 2020 - continue to have access for the same year to European programmes such as Erasmus, for example.
On the other hand, the Commission has been very clear on Northern Ireland in the event of a no deal: Northern Ireland - in addition to the peacekeeping programmes (PEACE), which will continue in any situation - will no longer be eligible for any further European assistance on the same basis as the rest of the country once it leaves the EU.
Moreover, on the issue of the Irish border, the Commission continues to decline to present any alternative plan to the ‘safety net’, which remains the only solution to avoid a physical border on the island of Ireland. Link to the communication: https://bit.ly/2krtVFD (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)