Member States agreed on Friday 22 January that the period of provisional implementation of the trade and cooperation agreement with the United Kingdom should be extended beyond 28 February at a meeting of their ambassadors to the European Union (Coreper). They even considered that the end of April would be a safer bet to take the time to analyse the text in depth and to achieve the required ratifications.
The date of 28 February appears more and more obviously “unrealistic”, one source reported.
The European Parliament has recently requested a deadline—until the end of March—to express its consent to the agreement being finalised at the end of 2020 (see EUROPE 12638/16).
Several EU countries even believe that it will take even longer, in large part due to the work involved in translating the texts.
On the procedural side, the European Commission is expected to take this request to the EU-UK Partnership Council and obtain its approval.
On Friday, the national ambassadors also supported the Commission’s choice to appoint Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič as the EU’s representative on this body.
Many questions on Friday focused on the governance and functioning of the various committees responsible for monitoring the implementation of the agreement. Other requests concerned the importance of adequately representing the interests of Member States and keeping them closely informed of the discussions with the United Kingdom, as was the case during the negotiations leading to the post-Brexit bilateral agreement. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)