Brussels: British, Irish and EU officials say they clinched a deal on the Brexit divorce preconditions early on Friday.
The European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said Friday that “the progress achieved today is sufficient to move to the next phase” in the negotiations.
He said the agreement reached early Friday by Britain, Ireland and EU officials is “precise and detailed” and if it’s approved by EU leaders at a summit next week then it “could be the basis for the withdrawal agreement.”
Barnier warned, however, that more work remains “on a number of issues.”
British Prime Minister Theresa May said the agreement between Britain and the European Union guarantees the rights of 3 million EU citizens in the UK and 1 million Britons elsewhere in the bloc.
She also says it ensures there will be no hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland after Brexit.
She says Northern Ireland has “a set of unique circumstances” because it has the UK’s only land border with an EU country.
The border issue has been threatening to derail the divorce talks.
Earlier this week, a Northern Ireland party that propped up May’s government scuttled a deal between the U.K and the bloc, prompting frantic diplomacy.
May said Friday that the agreement would maintain an open border while preserving the constitutional and economic integrity of the UK.
European Council President Donald Tusk says the European Union and Britain must now start negotiating a transition period for Britain to ease its way out of the bloc in 2019.
Tusk said Friday that the transition period should be a negotiating priority. While he noted that Britain has asked for a two-year bridging period, he laid out conditions for that to happen.
He said that “during this period the UK will respect the whole of EU law, including new law. It will respect budget commitments, it will respect judicial oversight and of course all related obligations.”
Tusk also said he has sent guidelines to EU leaders on how he thinks Brexit talks should be handled
Antonio Tajani, the European Parliament’s president, says he’s “sufficiently optimistic” over the breakthrough.
Tajani said the European Parliament will take a position on the negotiations in a vote next week. A resolution will first be presented to EU heads of state who will determine whether the progress made is “satisfactory and whether the second phase of the process can begin.”
He said the deal reached earlier appears to be a good start to “difficult and complicated” negotiations.
Germany’s main business lobby group says it’s relieved that Brexit talks have cleared the first hurdle but is warning that the toughest part lies ahead and calling for negotiations to speed up.
Future relations
Joachim Lang, a top official with the Federation of German Industries, or BDI, said Friday that German businesses were “relieved about the breakthrough.”
He warned that “the most difficult part of the negotiations lies ahead of us” and businesses need clarity “as quickly as possible” about future relations between the European Union and Britain.
Lang said that “the negotiations must now pick up speed. London must not indulge in illusions — our companies need to know quickly what model Downing Street sees for a future agreement and what the transition phase should look like.”
London Mayor Sadiq Khan says he is disappointed by parts of the deal that Prime Minister Theresa May struck with the European Union, but that she did what is necessary to get to the next stage of Brexit talks.
Khan says the government must accelerate progress to avoid further delays. He says it is critical that business leaders gain clarity on any interim plans to prevent companies from putting contingency plans in place to leave.
Khan says he welcomed the decisions on the rights of EU citizens living in the UK but says it is “extremely disappointing” that Britain will leave the single market and customs union.
Khan says that “despite the progress today, it looks increasingly unlikely that we will get a deal that works in London’s best interests and protects jobs and growth across Britain.”
Pro-Brexit British politician Nigel Farage says the European Union has gotten the better of Britain in divorce negotiations.
Farage, a European Parliament lawmaker for the UK. Independence Party, tweeted that a deal announced Friday in Brussels “is good news for Mrs. May as we can now move on to the next stage of humiliation.”
Other British Brexit supporters say they will study details of the deal agreed with the bloc before responding.
And pro-Brexit Justice Secretary Michael Gove praised May, saying the deal was a “significant achievement” for her.
Effect on pound
The pound rose early Friday morning as British Prime Minister Theresa May travelled to Brussels to announce a compromise solution that appears to satisfy EU officials’ terms on Britain’s exit issues. Those include the financial exit bill, citizens’ rights and — thorniest of all — how to manage the border between the UK’s Northern Ireland and the EU’s Republic of Ireland.
The pound rose to $1.3492 from around $1.3380 a day earlier.
The breakthrough means Britain and the EU are likely to move the talks on to the question of future relations, like trade. That is a key concern for businesses, who want to know how to plan for the future. Ireland’s prime minister has described the Britain’s Brexit agreement with the European Union as a step in the right direction and a significant day for his country.
Leo Varadkar told reporters Friday after the deal was announced that “this is not the end but it is the end of the beginning.”
Disagreements over rules governing the border between the Republic of Ireland, which is a member of the EU, and Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK, derailed an earlier proposal. Friday’s agreement doesn’t offer details on how the issue will be solved.
The deal pledges that whatever happens, the UK will maintain “full regulatory alignment” with the bloc on issues affecting Ireland. But it’s not immediately clear how that passage will be interpreted.
