On Thursday, European Union chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, during his speech in Stockholm said that EU and Britain would take more than year to reach a comprehensive deal, as opposed to the 11-month transition period which UK prime minister vouched for.
As per the Brexit deal, UK would exit the European bloc on January 31 and from there on two sides would have a transition period to reach a common ground on various rules, regulations and taxes. UK prime minister who was re-elected to power in December 2019, led the entire election campaign on getting Brexit done claiming that all the deals between EU and UK would be sealed by the end of 2020.
Clarifying over the timeline around Brexit, Barnier said,“We are ready to do our best and to do the maximum in the 11 months to secure a basic agreement with the UK, but we will need more time to agree on each and every point of this political declaration.”
Barnier added that 11-month period was relatively short to negotiate all the trade deals with UK, as it would involve multiple rounds of the discussions.
He said that the first point to focus is that two sides need time to build a new capacity to work together both bilaterally and as part of global institutions to address global issues such as climate change and peace in the Middle East.
He added, “The second point is that we need to build a very close security relationship.”
He concluded his statement by saying that EU would insist that it attains a level playing field with respect to UK to build a healthy economic partnership with it.
“Competing on social and environmental standards can only lead to a race to the bottom that puts workers, consumers and the planet on the losing side...If the UK wants an open link with us for the products; zero tariffs, zero quota, we need to be careful about what we call zero dumping,” Barnier said.
As per the Brexit deal, UK would exit the European bloc on January 31 and from there on two sides would have a transition period to reach a common ground on various rules, regulations and taxes. UK prime minister who was re-elected to power in December 2019, led the entire election campaign on getting Brexit done claiming that all the deals between EU and UK would be sealed by the end of 2020.
Clarifying over the timeline around Brexit, Barnier said,“We are ready to do our best and to do the maximum in the 11 months to secure a basic agreement with the UK, but we will need more time to agree on each and every point of this political declaration.”
Barnier added that 11-month period was relatively short to negotiate all the trade deals with UK, as it would involve multiple rounds of the discussions.
He said that the first point to focus is that two sides need time to build a new capacity to work together both bilaterally and as part of global institutions to address global issues such as climate change and peace in the Middle East.
He added, “The second point is that we need to build a very close security relationship.”
He concluded his statement by saying that EU would insist that it attains a level playing field with respect to UK to build a healthy economic partnership with it.
“Competing on social and environmental standards can only lead to a race to the bottom that puts workers, consumers and the planet on the losing side...If the UK wants an open link with us for the products; zero tariffs, zero quota, we need to be careful about what we call zero dumping,” Barnier said.
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