After determining that the time remaining before the end of 2020 was too short to validate the agreement on the future relationship between the European Union and the United Kingdom (see EUROPE 12627/6), the European Parliament has decided to take its time and is not expected to ratify before March this agreement that London and the European Commission reached on 24 December and which already applies on a provisional basis.
This timetable allows time for Parliament committees, notably the Committees on International Trade (INTA) and Foreign Affairs (AFET), to thoroughly study the details of the agreement that surpasses 1,246 pages including annexes. By choosing to stagger the duration of its examination, Parliament will therefore vote on the text almost 3 months after the British Parliament.
The latter indeed largely adopted, on 30 December, the agreement reached by the negotiators on Christmas Eve. On the European Union side, the Member States, represented by their Ambassadors to the EU, also validated the agreement on 29 December, by written procedure, as well as its provisional entry into force on 1 January. The respective leaders of the EU and the United Kingdom, now an outright non-Member State, then signed the agreement on 30 December. The Council of the EU will therefore now only have to intervene formally after Parliament votes to definitively validate this eight-month express negotiation.
With this timetable, Parliament had to accept what it initially rejected: a provisional entry into force of the agreement to avoid a technical ‘no deal’ situation on 1 January 2021 with direct consequences for citizens and businesses. In a statement issued on 28 December, however, Parliament said that provisional implementation should remain a “one-off exception” and “in no way constitute a precedent”.
This decision “must not serve as a model for future consent procedures”, the leaders of the main political groups stressed after a meeting with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU negotiator Michel Barnier.
Even if it is very unlikely that Parliament will reject the agreement, the various Parliament committees will therefore now set about studying each chapter of a text which covers trade relations between the two blocs, economic cooperation with less dynamic possibilities for the service sector, but also cooperation on internal security or participation in research programmes. The Committee on Fisheries, for its part, will be keen to look at the compromise reached between the two blocs to guarantee EU fishermen access to UK waters through June 2026.
On 24 December, the two partners were able to agree on a free trade agreement without quotas or tariffs for a very wide range of products, including agricultural products, as well as on cooperation in various sectors such as transport and energy.
However, many elements of this cooperation will still need to be clarified in further negotiations.
Alongside the free trade agreement, which marks the return of customs and regulatory controls between the two partners (except for Northern Ireland, which benefits from an exception regime under the withdrawal agreement in force since 1 February 2020), both parties have established rules for fair competition (‘level playing field’) providing for the possible reintroduction of quotas and customs duties in the event of an egregious discrepancy in social, environmental or fiscal standards. It also provides for the possibility for companies to have State Aid received by their competitors which distorts competition detected and repaid.
An arbitration mechanism, without the intervention of the EU Court of Justice, will make it possible to settle disputes.
The two blocs have agreed to a 25% reduction in quotas for Europeans by June 2026 for fisheries; annual negotiations will take place thereafter.
And on services, the main losing sector of the British economy, there will no longer be an automatic right of provision in the Member States. National authorisations and compliance with the legislation of the host country will apply. Financial services have lost their European passport and have to wait for the Commission to unilaterally establish the equivalence of EU rules with UK rules to allow cross-border provision in certain market segments. This could happen later in 2021.
Finally, the European Parliament will closely scrutinise London’s participation in programmes such as EURATOM or Horizon Europe and will not fail to express its disappointment at the fact that the United Kingdom has decided for the time being to no longer participate in the Erasmus+ university exchange programme. However, the Republic of Ireland has already indicated that it will fund Erasmus+ programmes for students from Northern Ireland who also have Irish passports and therefore European citizenship.
Finally, it should be noted that the European Commission has proposed the creation of a €5-billion reserve fund, which will make it possible to support sectors or territories hard hit by Brexit. This fund could in particular assist the fisheries sector and support the public administrations responsible for border, customs, sanitary and phytosanitary controls reintroduced since 1 January.
EUROPE will go into greater detail on this new era between the EU and the United Kingdom in a special feature.
See the text of the agreement: http://bit.ly/38Y3lcy
See the proposal of the reserve fund: https://bit.ly/38g1jW8 (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)