Relations between the EU and the United Kingdom showed positive development on Tuesday 8 December with regard to the implementation on 1 January of the withdrawal agreement and the Northern Ireland protocol.
The UK government announced that it would withdraw the contentious provisions from its Internal Market Bill and that it would not include similarly contentious provisions in the forthcoming Finance Bill.
The announcement was made after a joint committee on Northern Irish protocol chaired by Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič and UK Minister Michael Gove and was welcomed by the Vice-President, who promised at a press conference following the meeting of EU affairs ministers to “closely monitor” the withdrawal of the controversial articles.
With UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson due to visit Brussels in the next few days to identify the outlines of a possible agreement on the future relationship, with Ursula von der Leyen, the vice-president hoped that the removal of the controversial articles would create “positive momentum for the discussions on the free trade agreement”.
Maroš Šefčovič nevertheless conceded: “we are still a long way off” from a successful outcome, but with this “obstacle” removed from the path, “I hope we will see positive results”.
Negotiations between the two sides have been on a break since Monday, a time for the respective teams to take stock of progress. It is on this basis that Ms von der Leyen and Mr Johnson will hold discussions on the evening of Wednesday 9 December.
Mr Johnson is not expected to join EU leaders meeting in Brussels on Thursday and Friday.
The European Affairs Ministers were briefed on the situation by Michel Barnier on Tuesday and German State Secretary Michael Roth stressed that the EU-27 “want an agreement, but not at any price”.
In the meantime, on 1 January, the UK withdrawal agreement that entered into force last February will be operational, according to the terms of the agreement reached by Maroš Šefčovič and Michael Gove. In particular, agreement in principle was reached on border control posts/ports of entry specifically for the control of animals, plants and derived products, export declarations, the supply of medicines, the supply of chilled meat and other food products to supermarkets.
The parties also agree to settle before 1 January 2021 the practical arrangements for the EU presence in Northern Ireland when the British authorities implement the planned controls and the criteria for goods “not at risk” of entering the EU when moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.
The Joint Committee will still have to decide on the exemption of agricultural and fisheries subsidies from EU state aid rules and finalise the composition of the arbitration panel for the dispute settlement mechanism. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)