UK’s road out of EU: What are the main issues?
LONDON: Britain’s Parliament has told Prime Minister Theresa May she can file for divorce from the EU. She will send the formal letter by the end of March. Then comes the hard part — the arguments, the lawyers, the squabbles over money.
Here’s a look at the main issues and what happens next. the news, probably to Parliament.
That sets a clock ticking: Article 50 says that two years from the moment of notification, “the Treaties shall cease to apply” and Britain will no longer be an EU member. Tim Barrow, will also play a major role, and the Foreign Office will talk to individual member states to try to get them on its side.
On the EU side, it’s complicated. As Britain’s Institute for Government recently pointed out, “the UK is negotiating with 27 member states, not a unified bloc.”
French diplomat Michel Barnier is the chief negotiator for the European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm. He’ll receive direction from the Council, which represents the leaders of the member states.
The European Parliament also wants a say, and will have to approve the final deal between Britain and the bloc.
The first major battle is likely to be about money.
The EU says Britain must pay a hefty divorce bill of up to € 60 billion ($ 64 billion), to cover EU staff pensions and other expenses the UK has committed to.
Britain has not ruled out a payment, but is sure to quibble over the size of the tab.
There is also likely to be friction over Britain’s desire to have free trade in goods and services with the bloc, without accepting the EU’s core principle of free movement of workers.
Britain has said it will impose limits on immigration, and so will have to leave the EU’s single market and customs union. That makes some barriers to trade seem inevitable.
Under the terms of Article 50, Britain will cease to be an EU member in March 2019.
But EU negotiators warn it could take two years just to settle the divorce terms; agreeing a new relationship between the UK and the EU could take years longer. If the rest of the EU agrees, the two-year negotiating period can be extended, with Britain still in the EU. Or, the two sides could agree on a transitional period.
There is also a chance Britain could walk away early without a deal if it thinks talks are going nowhere.
The British government has said firmly that it will not backtrack on Brexit. But it is unclear whether Article 50 is legally reversible. Former British ambassador to the EU John Kerr, who wrote Article 50, says “it is not irrevocable. You can change your mind while the process is going on.”
However, domestic political pressures make it unlikely that the British government would try a U- turn.
May will probably take her cue from a catchphrase of predecessor Margaret Thatcher: “The lady is not for turning.”