Theresa May is expected Wednesday in Brussels to settle the last outstanding points of divorce from the United Kingdom with the EU.
British Prime Minister Theresa May is expected in Brussels Wednesday to settle the last outstanding points of the divorce from the UK with the EU, less than five months from the fateful date of Brexit.
Target of a sling in its majority for its management of the file, Ms. May will be received at 17:30 (16:30 GMT) by the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, ahead of the special summit that will gather Sunday the leaders of the countries of the EU.
Juncker and May will discuss London-EU "Future Relationship Framework" , yet to be agreed between the two sides to end the unprecedented complexity of negotiations initiated in November. June 2017.
The agreement reached last week by the negotiating teams was about a 600-page text on the draft "withdrawal treaty" of the United Kingdom, which detracts from the links for more than 40 years. accession of the United Kingdom. In particular, this text settles the question of the bill that London will have to pay to the EU, without quantifying it, and provides for a controversial solution to avoid as a last resort the return of a physical border between Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Treated under the fire of critics
But this treaty, under fire from critics in the United Kingdom where Mrs May is accused of having made too many concessions to the EU, will also have to be accompanied by a "political declaration" outlining the contours of the future relationship with the EU. Union, in particular on the commercial level.
This document, "about twenty pages" according to a European source, will be without legal value but with strong political scope to frame trade negotiations that can not formally begin until after the Brexit, scheduled for March 30, 2019.
Both parties will have a transition period to negotiate until the end of 2020, which they can extend if necessary for a period under discussion. But London as the 27 already want to give a minimum of visibility on this "future relationship" . The EU agrees to "lead to a lack of tariffs and quotas for all goods" with the UK.
But no question of offering the prospect of a trade relationship "without friction" if London continues to want to free itself from the rules of the customs union and the single market, insist several European countries.
"Vigilance"
"The customs union is to renounce having an independent commercial policy and it is to accept the rules of fair competition (with European companies), it must be clear for the British," insisted a diplomatic source.
Countries such as France and the Netherlands also want to obtain "elements of vigilance" on the future access of European fleets to the territorial waters of the United Kingdom. This sensitive issue has been excluded from the scope of the "single customs territory" , the last resort solution to the Irish border issue if future trade negotiations fail to do so.
"It is essential to maintain the link between access to the European market (for fish caught by British fishermen, Ed) and access to British territorial waters" for Europeans, a diplomatic source said.
Future of Gibraltar
Madrid, for its part, put pressure on its European partners by threatening to block any agreement on the Brexit if its direct role in the negotiations on the future of Gibraltar, a British enclave in the south of Spain, was there. not explicitly recognized.
"I regret to say that a pro-European government like that of Spain will vote, if there is no change, no Brexit" , during the extraordinary summit scheduled Sunday in Brussels, put Tuesday, the head of the Spanish government Pedro Sanchez.
If the British government and the 27 come to an agreement on all aspects of their divorce, they will still have to obtain the ratification of the European Parliament and that, far from being acquired, of the British Parliament.