Photographer: Geert Vanden Wijngaert / Bloomberg
Photographer: Geert Vanden Wijngaert / Bloomberg
Negotiators in the UK and the European Union have reached the contours of a post-Brexit trade deal and are now finalizing the deal’s wording after nearly a decade of often-charged deliberations.
The deal has yet to be approved by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the EU, officials said with knowledge. That means the deal could still fall apart and any announcement could be several hours away, they said.
The pound was up a whopping 1.6% to $ 1.3571, which was the largest intraday gain in more than a week. The yield on 10-year UK government bonds was poised for its biggest gains since March.
Johnson and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, personally intervened in recent days, making several phone calls in a last-ditch effort to reach an agreement before the UK leaves the internal market at the end of the month.
Michel Barnier told a meeting of ambassadors that the talks had progressed.
Photographer: Olivier Hoslet / AFP / Getty Images
If they can negotiate an agreement, that would draw a line under nearly five years of often stormy negotiations since the UK voted to withdraw from the EU in 2016 and laid the groundwork for Britain to trade and work together to work with the block in the future. Hundreds of trucks that had driven around the South England port of Dover earlier this week had a sobering reminder of the possible consequences of ending the UK transition period on December 31 without a deal.
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Negotiations resumed early Wednesday at the commission’s Berlaymont headquarters in Brussels, with discussions centered on what access EU boats have to UK waters and what rights the EU will have to impose retaliatory measures if the UK does so. in the future.
Both sides have reached an agreement on fishing as a condition of a broader deal on their future relationship, even though the € 650 million ($ 790 million) worth of fish European boats catch in UK waters every year is a fraction of the 512 billion euros in traded goods. annually between Great Britain and the EU.
Michel Barnier, the bloc’s chief negotiator, told a meeting of ambassadors from the 27 EU member states on Tuesday that the talks had progressed and that a deal could be signed before Christmas – if the British are willing to push further. compromise on fishing, according to diplomats briefed on the discussions. Talks could go on after Christmas or fail altogether, he told the private meeting.
Senior EU officials said the decision lies with Johnson, while people familiar with the British side said it was up to Europeans to move.
Diplomats in the EU working group discussed how a possible agreement could enter into force on January 1, even if there is not enough time for formal ratification by the EU parliament. While such procedural preparations are not in themselves proof that a deal has been reached, they indicate that the bloc is preparing for it.
If an agreement is reached, the committee will publish the draft unofficial text and send it to Member States and the European Parliament, according to a diplomat who has been briefed on the preparations. According to the plan, the EU government envoys in Brussels have two days to discuss and approve the draft. This is followed by a written procedure for the signature of the FTA, so that it can be published in the Official Journal of the European Union by 31 December at the latest.
– With the help of Tim Ross
(Adds political approval required in the second paragraph.)