EU open to delaying Brexit
BRUSSELS: As the European Union presents its plan for the UK’s Brexit transition, many governments are willing to push the expiration date beyond the December 2020 deadline they’ll set out as their official stance.
During discussions in Brussels, several nations lobbied for a more flexible approach to the length of the transition phase than the one finalised by diplomats this week, three people familiar with the talks said.
Privately, many EU officials believe the transition period will be prolonged as it becomes obvious to the UK government that the type of trade deal it wants will be difficult to reach within the the next three years.
If adjustments to the Brexit transition “timetable turn out to be required, I believe it would only be common sense to make them,” Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said last week during a speech in Dublin.
The bloc’s conditions for the transition period, which are likely to be accepted almost wholesale by the British government, represent EU membership in all but name, with the country relinquishing the power to vote or influence decisions. While business would be pleased at the prospect of an extendable grace period that would give them time to prepare for the new regime, it would reignite fears among Brexit backers that the country isn’t really leaving the EU at all.
The UK will remain subject to rulings by the European Court of Justice — a taboo for UK eurosceptics — and will have to allow EU citizens to live and work in the UK as they do now. Britain will also keep up its payments into the EU budget during the grace period, which businesses are desperate to pin down as soon as possible.
The EU has been working on its position for the transition period for nearly two months. It was finalised by diplomats yesterday and will be signed off by representatives from the 27 governments at a meeting in Brussels on Monday. Talks with the UK will begin shortly afterwards.
According to a draft of the EU’s position, the 27 remaining governments will say the transition should be “clearly defined and precisely limited in time,’’ and “should not last beyond Dec 31, 2020.’’ But many countries are willing to be much more flexible, the people said.