Whatever Happened to Brexit?

by Louise Mclean 

Since the Corona virus hit the world, Brexit appears to be almost shelved for now.  Head EU negotiator, Michel Barnier is in quarantine, having tested positive for the virus and now Boris Johnson likewise, along with David Frost the UK's chief negotiator, who has shown mild symptoms.

During the week of 18^th to 20^th March, trade talks were supposed to resume but because of the virus, they were to take place via video links.  However the EU said this would not be acceptable and they were cancelled.

A working party of Brexit officials held a 'virtual' meeting on 26th March but the European Commission told them that trade negotiations were frozen and video meetings were not suitable for further talks.  There was also a meeting scheduled for 6th April which has been cancelled too.

As we know, the trade deal must be finalised by the end of December, unless the UK asks for an extension, which has so far been dismissed by Boris Johnson.

Both the EU and UK have already submitted their respective versions of a draft free trade agreement, with big divisions on both sides on issues such as fisheries and the 'level playing field' (i.e. harmonisation of EU rules in the UK).

Apparently there has not yet been any formal UK request for an extension but this must be decided by 1st July and the EU still believes that the end of December will not be long enough to finalise the trade deal.

So for now at least, we must continue to pay the EU membership bill and hopefully it will not be more than the current net payment of £9 billion per year.

The next EU/UK meeting will now be held in June and it is currently thought that an extension will be requested.  One EU diplomat has suggested that an ideal opportunity to bring this up will be on a phone call on 30th March, when Michael Gove speaks to Maros Sefcovic, a senior EU Commissioner, to discuss the implementation of the Withdrawal Agreement.

Of course many people think we left the EU on 31st January and technically we have left but that date was the expiration of Article 50. However we only fully leave on 31st December and until then must abide by all EU laws and regulations until the trade deal is completed, or if not, leave fully on 31st December under WTO rules.

Incredible to think that this time last year we were expecting to leave on 29th March and ended up having three more extensions - 12th April, 31st October and finally 31st January for the Article 50 period to end.

We sincerely hope that an extension to the transition period after 31st December will not happen but privately many senior figures believe that with governments tied up in dealing with the Corona virus outbreak, unfortunately this could happen. However today's edition of the Daily Express maintains Boris Johnson is still refusing to have any extension, (although erroneously they put 31st January 2021, instead of 31st December 2020). 

For more websites with information on the latest Brexit news, click here.