BRUSSELS (AP) – Negotiators from the European Union and Britain worked overnight and into Christmas Eve to put an end to a trade deal that should prevent a chaotic economic rift between the two sides. next week.
Trade will change regardless of January 1, when the UK leaves the single market and the customs union of the bloc. But both sides have been working furiously to avoid a nightmare scenario, in which the imposition of tariffs and tariffs would cost billions of businesses and hundreds of thousands of jobs and ports potentially so small that many goods would struggle to achieve. This possibility was strictly illustrated this week when a brief French blockade of British trucks on coronavirus problems created chaos in ports that is still being resolved.
After resolving almost all the remaining points, negotiators combed hundreds of pages of legal text on Thursday that should become the blueprint for a post-Brexit relationship.
As during much of the nine-month negotiations, the issue of EU fishing fleets in British waters turned out to be the most intractable and divisive, with negotiators still haggling for some species ’quotas as they came and went. ‘alba.
However, sources on both sides said the long and difficult negotiations were on the verge of being wrapped up as negotiators, hosted at the EU headquarters in Brussels with a stack of pizzas, who worked to deliver the text to its leaders on Thursday.
Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said there appeared to be “some sort of last-minute hook” on the fish, but that was not surprising. He said he was expecting announcements of a London-Brussels deal “later today”.
The agreement would then reach the 27 EU nations seeking unanimous approval, as well as the blessing of the EU and UK parliaments. These approvals are expected.
The British currency, the pound, rose in expectations of a deal, 0.5% more than the dollar to just under $ 1.36.
It has been four and a half years since the British voted between 52% and 48% to leave the EU to, in the words of the Brexiteers campaign slogan, “regain control” of borders and the laws of the Brexiteers. United Kingdom.
More than three years of fighting passed before Britain left the bloc’s political structures on 31 January. Negotiations on how to untangle economies that were closely linked as part of the EU’s single market for goods and services took even longer.
Despite the apparent progress, key aspects of the future relationship between the 27-nation bloc and its former member remain uncertain. But it leaves the mutually dependent, often fragile, relationship between the UK and the EU – and its £ 675bn ($ 918bn) in annual trade – on a much stronger footing than a disruptive rupture without an agreement.
If an agreement is announced, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will be able to claim to have fulfilled the promise he won in a resounding election victory a year ago: “Do Brexit.”
Even with an agreement, trade between Britain and the EU will face customs controls and other barriers on 1 January. But an agreement would avoid the most disastrous effects of tariffs and duties. Britain withdrew from the EU on 31 January and a period of economic transition expired on 31 December.
Johnson has always insisted that the UK will “prosper powerfully” even if no agreement is reached and the UK must negotiate with the EU under the terms of the World Trade Organization from 1 gener.
But his government has acknowledged that a chaotic exit is likely to lead to a blockade on Britain’s ports, the temporary shortage of some goods and rising commodity prices. Tariffs will be applied to many UK exports, including 10% in cars and more than 40% in lamb, affecting the UK economy as it struggles to recover from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Over the past few days, Johnson and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have been increasingly drawn to the talks, talking on the phone to try to unblock months-long negotiations, hampered by the pandemic and on both sides. opinions contrary to what Brexit implies.
Rumors of a pre-Christmas trade deal surfaced in recent days based on progress on the main outstanding issues: fair competition, resolution of future disputes and fishing.
The EU has long feared that Britain would submit to the bloc’s social, environmental and state aid rules in order to gain an unfair advantage with its exports to the EU. Britain has said that having to comply with EU rules would undermine its sovereignty.
A compromise was finally reached on those issues related to the “fair play field”, leaving the economically smaller, but hugely symbolic, issue of fish as an end point. EU maritime nations want to maintain access to the waters of the UK where they have been fishing for a long time, but Britain has insisted it must exercise control as an “independent coastal state”.
A huge gap between the two sides in terms of fishing was gradually narrowed until it finally appeared passable.
Johnson’s large Conservative majority in Parliament should ensure that the Brexit trade deal is approved, but Brexit supporters in his party will criticize any compromise. The party’s European Eurosceptic research group said it would carefully examine any agreement “to ensure that its provisions truly protect UK sovereignty after it leaves the transition period later this year”.
The European Parliament has warned that it is too late to approve the agreement before 1 January, but an agreement could be provisionally established and approved by EU lawmakers in January.
Companies on both sides are demanding an agreement that will save tens of billions in costs.
While both sides would suffer financially from failing to reach a trade deal, most economists think Britain would be more successful, because it is smaller and more dependent on trade with the EU than the other way around.
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Lawless reported from London.
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