The EU-27 will review the UK's exit procedure from the European Union on Friday 13 December and will adopt conclusions on the future post-Brexit bilateral relationship.
While no substantive debate is planned on this topic, the EU-27 will therefore reiterate that they are “ready” to negotiate this future relationship, that they want it to be as close a relationship as possible, but that it is also based on key principles such as fair competition and a level playing field. They will invite the European Commission to prepare, as soon as possible, a negotiating mandate for adoption by the General Affairs Council. They will also welcome the fact that Michel Barnier has been appointed as the head of these negotiations, a task that he will carry out in a consistent and transparent manner with Member States.
This summit will be special because it will take place at the same time as legislative elections are taking place in the United Kingdom. These are taking place on Thursday, December 12, and the results should be known early in the night of December 12 to December 13.
Boris Johnson, the British Prime Minister, will therefore not be in Brussels and will be represented instead by Charles Michel, the President of the European Council, as he has requested.
At this point, the EU-27 are working on the assumption that Boris Johnson and the Conservatives will win these elections—as predicted in the polls—and, therefore, that the withdrawal agreement negotiated with the EU in October will be validated in time for an exit scheduled for 31 January 2020.
No other scenario has therefore been envisaged at this stage. Nevertheless, according to a diplomatic source, even in the event of an effective exit on February 1st, there will still be “very little time” to conclude a future free trade agreement before the end of the transition period, which is still set for 31 December 2020.
For Charles Michel, the new President of the European Council, one of the key messages to be delivered on Friday will be that the EU-27 will commit to remain “united” throughout these negotiations, as he told journalists at an impromptu press briefing. (Original version in French by the editors)