U.K., EU give nod to ties after pullout
Exit deal within grasp, May declares
LONDON — Britain’s path out of the European Union crossed a crucial threshold Thursday when negotiators from London and Brussels agreed on a text outlining future ties, a document replete with promises of ambition but ambiguous on crucial questions that have cleaved British politics.
The 26-page draft document is nonbinding and would supplement a legal withdrawal agreement that lists the “divorce” terms reached between Britain and the European Union, which Britain is scheduled to leave March 29.
Nevertheless, its conclusion opens the way for a summit meeting of EU leaders, who are expected to approve the overall plan for the withdrawal Sunday in Brussels.
“The British people want
this to be settled,” said Britain’s prime minister, Theresa May, speaking briefly outside her office on Downing Street. “They want a good deal that sets us on course for a brighter future.
“That deal is within our grasp and I am determined to deliver it,” she added.
Addressing the House of Commons after the publication of the proposal, May said the agreement will ensure a “smooth and orderly” British departure from the European Union. Britain will be the first nation to leave the EU.
“The draft text that we have agreed with the [European] Commission is a good deal for our country and for our partners in the EU,” May said.
May still faces the task of selling her exit plan to British lawmakers and hopes to accomplish that using the latest text, which promises many things to many people, as part of what it calls an “ambitious, broad, deep and flexible partnership.”
While pledging “deep and close” — but not frictionless — future trade ties, it hinted at leeway for Britain to choose a different economic path, reflecting the fundamental decision that British policymakers have so far dodged.
Despite some last-minute objections to the draft plan from Spain over provisions concerning Gibraltar, analysts expect the deal to be signed off by EU leaders Sunday.
May is to travel to Brussels on Saturday for further withdrawal meetings, including with Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, a day before a summit of the EU’s 27 other leaders at which both the political declaration on post-exit relations as well as the divorce agreement, which alone has legal status, are expected to be formally signed off.
The withdrawal agreement needs to be sealed soon to leave enough time for the European Parliament and the U.K. Parliament to endorse it.
May told lawmakers that the outlines for the future help protect jobs, end the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice in the U.K., give British fishermen more control and avoid the return of a hard border between EU member Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom.
She also said the agreement paves the way for a free trade agreement with the bloc as well as allowing Britain to forge new trade deals around the world.
But her rosy predictions met with resistance on many fronts in Parliament, which is expected to vote on the withdrawal plan next month.
At the moment, it looks precarious for the prime minister given the number of lawmakers who have expressed discontent with the proposals, notably the 585-page legal treaty that deals with the terms of Britain’s departure, including what the country owes the EU.
If May fails to get a majority in Parliament, it’s unclear what would then happen. Some lawmakers argue that the country would end up crashing out of the EU with no deal, a scenario that could see tariffs slapped on exports and restrictions imposed on workers. Others hope Parliament could back a second referendum in the hope the public would call the whole thing off.
Many lawmakers fret about the legally binding withdrawal agreement, laying out measures to prevent the need for checks on goods flowing across the border between Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, and Ireland, which will remain in the European Union.
Under these plans, the whole of the United Kingdom might remain in a European customs union temporarily, but critics fear that this could become a permanent arrangement, preventing the country from pursuing new trade deals around the world.
The document agreed on Thursday held out the prospect that technology could solve this question — an apparent nod to the hard-line, pro-leave faction. It also referred to British plans for an independent trade policy and for “ending of free movement of people,” allowing the government in London to prevent people from EU nations from working in Britain.
And it suggested that the British might strike an “association agreement” with the bloc, a deal that is deeper and covers more areas than a free-trade agreement. Typically, that is the sort of relationship enjoyed by countries that want to join the European Union rather than quit it.
Yet the declaration is, in truth, a wish list for future negotiations — one that avoided the central question of whether Britain would stay deeply enmeshed in the bloc’s economic structures, and therefore accept its rules, or chart a different course.
Although the draft political declaration was intended to reassure some opponents, its critics immediately dismissed it. Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition Labor Party, called it “halfbaked,” a “vague menu of options” and “26 pages of waffle.” Nicola Sturgeon, the leader of the Scottish National Party, wrote on Twitter that it was so vague that it “adds up to a blindfold Brexit.”
The political declaration was agreed upon at a technical level by negotiators and endorsed Thursday by the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, which is overseeing negotiations.
“This declaration establishes the parameters of an ambitious, broad, deep and flexible partnership across trade and economic cooperation, law enforcement and criminal justice, foreign policy, security and defense and wider areas of cooperation,” according to the document.
It also talks about the close ties that have been cemented after 45 years of Britain’s membership of the EU and notes that the “parties envisage having a trading relationship on goods that is as close as possible, with a view to facilitating the ease of legitimate trade.”
In a speech in Berlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel underlined that “Britain should remain a partner, remain a friend” but she underscored the difficulties that may arise in any attempt to keep services seamless.
“We have to say honestly that, in the services sector, we don’t have a great deal of experience with international free-trade agreements,” she said.
“But we want to see that as a future relationship.”
Mark Francois, a senior pro-leave Conservative lawmaker, told the BBC that the document was best described as a “fig leaf” and “26 pages of political camouflage.”
“Everything the EU wanted from the negotiations has ended up in the withdrawal agreement — which is a legally enforceable international treaty,” said Priti Patel, another exit supporter and Conservative lawmaker. “Everything the U.K. wanted has been put in an unenforceable, meaningless declaration.”
Away from the political arena, Simon Fraser, a former top official at the British Foreign Office and a managing partner at Flint Global, a consulting firm, said the document reflected “good work” by British officials and that it moved the debate on to a new stage.
But, he added, it “also confirms we would leave with many open questions and a long road ahead.”