‘ The deal is done’: UK and EU leaders strike 11th-hour Brexit trade accord
The UK and EU sealed a historic trade deal on Thursday, setting out the terms of their relationship for years to come.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted “The deal is done” after the two sides clinched an agreement at the 11th hour.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said it was “a long and winding road, but we have got a good deal to show for it”.
“It is fair; it is a balanced deal, and it is the right and responsible thing to do for both sides. Parting is such sweet sorrow,” she said.
Mr Johnson had been in close contact with Ms von der Leyen in recent days as efforts intensified to get a deal over the line.
After 10 months of talks, negotiations were deadlocked. The final hurdle was understood to be over fishing rights for European boats inside British waters.
Discussions about the legal text – about 500 pages long – continued through the night as negotiators haggled over the final details.
But even the final hours were not without drama. Despite briefings that a statement was due early on Thursday, more wrangling over fish quotas caused a last-minute hitch, pushing back the announcement by several hours.
The deal has elements which can be claimed as a victory by either side, with Britain regaining sovereignty over its laws and the EU still able to keep its regulations in place.
The main point that Mr Johnson can now make to the 52 per cent of British people who voted for Brexit is that the country has “taken back control” of its borders, laws, money and trade.
At the same time Britain has secured unprecedented access to European markets that will allow it to continue free trade with bloc.
A crucial element is that Britain will no longer be subject to EU law or the European Court of Justice. The deal gives British companies access to European markets on a “zero-tariff, zero-quota” basis, with no role for the ECJ in policing the accord.
The last-gasp deal that will seal the future UK-EU trading relationship – worth almost £670 billion ($907.5bn) – will come as a relief to business leaders.
Britain and the EU agreed a trade deal on Christmas Eve, with only a week to go before the end of the Brexit transition period.
The key element that led to success on Thursday was that the UK’s “red line” demands were met.
Conservative Party hardliners are satisfied that the UK will be able to “take back control” by making its own laws with the European Court of Justice no longer able to rule on British legislation.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he had secured a “zero-tariff, zero-quota” regime. With the total in commerce worth an annual £670 billion ($907.5bn) it is the biggest trade deal signed by either side.
It followed an agonisingly long negotiation, particularly intense in the last month, but it is hoped that the detail in the 500-page document will prove agreeable to both sides.
Standing in front of two large Union Flags in Downing Street, Mr Johnson gave an optimistic outlook.
“The deal also guarantees that we are no longer in the lunar pull of the EU, we are not bound by EU rules, there is no role for the European Court of Justice and all of our key red lines about returning sovereignty have been achieved,” he said. “We will have full political and economic independence on January 1, 2021.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said: “It’s time to turn the page and look to the future. We are long standing allies. We share the same values and interests.”
The agreement has no tariffs on goods passing between the two jurisdictions and in unlimited amounts. This was crucial to Britain as it exports 43 per cent of its goods to the EU and imports 51 per cent. A no-deal Brexit on World Trade Organisation terms would have meant significant extra tariffs on businesses, threatening trade and goods costing more.
“We have signed the first freetrade agreement based on zero tariffs and zero quotas that has ever been achieved with the EU,” Mr Johnson said.
The European Court of Justice will have no say in how disputes are resolved. This was a central demand by hardline Brexiteers to ensure Britain regained its sovereignty. The EU has conceded that it cannot impose penalties. It had made a strong bid for an independent arbitration system.
Fishing had been a sticking point. Britain will be an independent coastal state in charge of access to its own waters with its fishermen able to catch a far greater proportion of available fish than its EU competitors.
Mr Johnson announced a £100 million programme to modernise the industry’s infrastructure in expectation of significant growth when in five years it gains full control of British waters.
The EU’s quota of fish in British waters is now reduced by 25 per cent over the next five years, with annual renegotiations from there.
Crucially for Brexit supporters, Britain will regain “sovereignty” of its coastal waters. However, the quota of a 25 per cent cut is a substantial climbdown from the 80 per cent Britain originally demanded and
the 35 per cent offer London made a few days ago.
There will be no “cross-retaliation” tariffs if London decides to change quotas after the five years elapse. Brussels had demanded unrestrained access to Britain’s waters for a decade.
Another key negotiation was the “level playing field”. The sides have agreed a common baseline for regulations below which neither will go. An independent arbiter will resolve issues over common standards to rule on disputes.
A major concern for Brussels was that Britain would lower its standards to make firms more competitive, potentially with government financial assistance. Its negotiators required a “level playing field” to ensure regulations remained fair on workers’ rights and the environment.
Mr Johnson said he would rather walk away from a deal than accept Britain being tied to EU rules and regulations.
Ms von der Leyen said there were strong measures within
the deal that could be taken if one party did not play by the rules. There are strong safeguards, therefore, to ensure there is an incentive for both sides to stick to what they have agreed.
It is understood that Britain will now have greater access to security data in EU databases that allow countries to deal with threats, including organised crime and terrorism.
The new deal has safeguarded the rights of UK tourists. British travellers will be able to travel between European countries without being subject to border controls or visa requirements.
A healthcare protocol is understood to ensure that holidaymakers will have access to medical care if they fall ill while they are abroad.
Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, said that there had been no agreement on defence, foreign policy and overseas development. Negotiations on these issues are expected to begin next year.
If it comes to be called the “Christmas Eve Accord”, the deal will determine the relationship for generations. It will change how Britain is governed and how it trades, with many potential pitfalls ahead and no guarantee that it will lead to greater prosperity.
But 1,645 days since the referendum when Britain narrowly voted to leave the EU there is widespread relief that a deal had finally been struck.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was “confident” the Brexit deal was a “good outcome”.
Irish leader Micheal Martin welcomed the accord.
“The fact that a deal is now in place means we can focus on how we manage good relationship in the years ahead,” he tweeted.
“Europe can look towards the future, in a united and sovereign manner, and with strength,” said French President Emmanuel Macron.
With the world facing ever greater challenges, there is a pressing need for the western alliance to demonstrate unity. Yet, the speed with which European states have been willing to isolate Britain over the sudden rise in coronavirus infections has laid bare the deep divisions that currently lie within the European comity of nations.
The official explanation for the decision by the overwhelming majority of European governments, beginning with France, to ban British residents earlier in the week from entry was that the discovery by British scientists of a new, more virulent strain of the Covid-19 virus poised a clear and present danger to their nations’ well-being. France has now reopened its border with the UK under strict conditions, but it is worth reflecting on what the events of this week really meant.
Despite calls from the WHO and other international bodies, including the EU secretariat, for European leaders to work together to overcome the coronavirus pandemic, the decision by so many of them to respond unilaterally demonstrated that, when faced with the choice between fostering co-operation and protecting their own national interests, they opted for the latter without, apparently, a moment’s hesitation.
The willingness of individual EU member states to subordinate the well-being of Europe as a whole is not a new phenomenon. From the Balkans conflicts of the 1990s to the Iraq war in 2003, European leaders have displayed a dismaying propensity to go their own way. The inclination of
EU member states to pressure less fortunate members of the alliance was also very much in evidence during the Greek financial crisis, when wealthier nations like Germany insisted upon implementing punitive financial terms on Athens in return for an EU bail-out.
So many of these countries abandoning Britain in its hour of need once again makes a mockery of the concept of European unity.
Perhaps the most significant political feature of the border closures, imposed hours after the new virus strain was announced, was that they were done unilaterally by governments without consultation with the EU commission. Indeed, it was only after the EU intervened that France was persuaded to reach an agreement to reopen the border with the mass testing of stranded lorry drivers.
The timing certainly made life for ordinary Britons, already struggling with a rise in coronavirus cases and nationwide lockdowns, more difficult. It ended, without notice, any chance Britons with ties across the Channel may have had of joining family and friends for the festive break. It also raised the possibility of food shortages, as much-needed supplies for supermarkets were stuck on the French side of the border.
And while the deal agreed between Paris and London now paves the way for a gradual relaxation of controls, the requirement that all travellers from the UK – including EU citizens – must first prove they are not carrying the virus means that further delays will be inevitable, given the scarcity of tests available to the general public. Supermarket bosses are predicting shortages of certain foods, particularly fresh fruit and vegetables, well into next month.
European leaders have been quick to emphasise that all of this is entirely coronavirus-related, and had nothing to do with the problematic Brexit negotiations, the conclusion of which was days overdue. But there are suspicions in London that part of the motivation among at least some European leaders for closing borders with such haste so close to the Brexit deadline was to increase the pressure on UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson. And, at the same time, they were demonstrating to the British people the difficulties they are likely to encounter if the negotiations were to end without agreement on a new trade deal.
These suspicions appeared to be confirmed by Guy Verhofstadt, the anti-Brexit Belgian politician, who tweeted about Britain’s predicament: “They will now start to understand what leaving the EU really means…”
With EU President Ursula von der Leyen now calling upon member states to end the travel ban with Britain, the hardline position adopted by the likes of Mr Verhofstadt is unlikely to be maintained for long. Nevertheless, the conduct of so many of these countries towards their British neighbour has exposed the divisions and rivalries that continue to affect relations between some of Europe’s major powers, with all that means for the future of western co-operation.
This makes for particularly troubling for US President-elect Joe Biden, who has said that he intends to make reviving the western alliance one of his main priorities after he assumes office next month. After the divisions that have appeared within the transatlantic alliance over incumbent President Donald Trump’s confrontational attitude with key European figures, such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Mr Biden says he wants to restore a sense of unity and purpose so that the West can present a credible counterweight to the emerging power of China and the longstanding rivalry with Russia.
For this to happen, Mr Biden needs Washington’s European allies to present a united front and work together towards a common goal. But, as the events on the British border of the past few days have demonstrated, solidarity is running short in Europe. The continent’s ability to play a role in supporting the kind of kinship and united vision on the world stage that Mr Biden hopes for is not something that can be taken for granted.
When choosing between co- operation and national interests, European leaders opted for the latter