Three weeks before Brexit, Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, will travel to London on Wednesday to meet British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the institution announced on Friday.
It is the first meeting between the two leaders since Ursula von der Leyen took office in early December. "There is a bilateral meeting next Wednesday in Downing Street," confirmed a spokesman for the British government.
Agreement submitted to MEPs before January 31
According to the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen is also scheduled to deliver a speech at the London School of Economics. The United Kingdom is preparing to leave the European Union on January 31. In the meantime, the British and European parliaments must ratify the withdrawal agreement negotiated between the two parties.
A transition period will follow, to avoid a sudden break, until the end of the year. London and Brussels hope to have negotiated a commercial agreement before this deadline, a calendar claimed by Boris Johnson. EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier warned that agreeing and ratifying a post-Brexit relationship in eleven months would be "a huge challenge".
Trade and security agreements
Ursula von der Leyen also echoed these concerns, in an interview at the end of December with the newspaper Les Echos . "It seems to me that, on both sides, we should seriously ask ourselves if all these negotiations are feasible in such a short time," said the German leader. In addition to a free trade agreement, the EU and the UK are also planning to agree on international and security issues.
On December 12, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson won early parliamentary elections with an unprecedented majority for the Conservatives. This broad victory for Boris Johnson, a proponent of a quick and clean Brexit, paved the way for a UK exit from the EU at the end of January, three and a half years after the British vote in favor of this divorce at the time. 'a referendum and after 47 years of an eventful common life.
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