Brexit plunged into crisis during trade talks The last Round of negotiations in London after the United Kingdom The European Union warned If the Coalition does not agree to a free trade agreement by October 15, it could effectively replace the signed divorce agreement.
Tensions escalated on Monday as Chief EU negotiator Michelle Barnier expressed concern over the talks and sought an explanation from London on plans to withdraw on the commitments.
Information that the UK is planning a new law that would bypass key elements of the Brexit withdrawal agreement – if implemented, could damage the agreement signed in January and provoke tensions in Northern Ireland.
Sections of the internal market bill, which will be published on Wednesday, are expected to “remove legal force from certain parts of the withdrawal agreement” in areas including state aid and Northern Ireland Customs, the Financial Times newspaper reported Monday. Familiar with plans.
If no agreement is reached, the two sides will have to “accept it and move forward,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Monday. In this scenario, the UK will have a trade relationship with an alliance like Australia, which would be a “good outcome”, Johnson says.
Johnson also says it makes no sense to think about the timeline beyond October 15.
“If we do not agree by then, I do not see that there will be a free trade agreement between us, and we will both have to accept it and move forward,” he said.
Sterling fell against the dollar and the euro as Brexit’s chances of a deal plummeted.
The UK left the EU on January 31, but negotiations to reach a new trade agreement before the end of the transition arrangements in December have so far broken with state aid rules and fisheries.
Without the deal, nearly tr 1 trillion worth of trade between the UK and the EU would be subject to uncertainty, including rules on everything from car parts and drugs to fruit and data.
European concern over UK’s reported plan
The plan, which was reportedly to undermine the withdrawal agreement, was condemned by parties on both sides of the Irish border and came as a surprise to some in Brussels.
“If the UK chooses not to respect its international responsibilities, it will damage its international status,” an EU diplomat said.
“Who wants to accept trade agreements with a country that has not implemented international agreements? It is a desperate and ultimately self-defeating strategy,” the diplomat said.
“I can not imagine the EU concluding an agreement with a country that does not abide by its treaty commitments without properly implementing the withdrawal agreement,” said another EU diplomat.
Irish Foreign Minister Simon Cowney, who played a key role in negotiating the withdrawal agreement and the Northern Ireland protocol, said on Twitter that the move was “a very unwise move forward”.
Senior members of Northern Ireland’s Sinn Fin and SDLP parties, two of the region’s largest Irish nationalist groups, have also criticized the UK’s planned plan.
When asked about the report in the Financial Times, British Environment Secretary George Eustis said there may be some minor “legal ambiguities” about the Northern Irish protocol that need to be addressed.
“We are not moving goal posts,” Sky News told the broadcaster.
Bernier said everything signed would be “honored” as he plans to discuss the FT report with his British counterpart David Frost during this week’s talks.
“The important thing for me is what the Prime Minister says and does, and what the British government itself says and does,” he said.
Regarding Northern Ireland, Bernier stressed that the withdrawal agreement would apply to the EU’s single market rules aimed at avoiding a “tough border” with Ireland, but would effectively create a trade border in the Irish Sea.
The move is intended to prevent a resumption of sectarian tensions between Ireland and Northern Ireland, which were largely pacified by the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.
“There has been no need for a land border for peace since the end of the conflict … and this is a prerequisite for a united and cohesive economy for the entire island, and also for respecting a single market,” Bernier said.
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