Britain and the EU have agreed to a draft text setting out a close post-Brexit economic relationship, paving the way for a summit of EU leaders to endorse the deal, European Council President Donald Tusk said yesterday.
Britain is scheduled to leave the EU on March 29 and diplomats are trying to put the finishing touches to a divorce deal and the accompanying outline of their future relationship so that EU leaders can rubber-stamp them at a summit on Sunday.
After a Reuters report that negotiators from the European Commission and Britain had agreed to a draft declaration on future ties, Tusk confirmed that the deal had been agreed in principle.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The text, seen by Reuters, said that the EU and Britain “agree to develop an ambitious, wide-ranging and balanced economic partnership.”
“This partnership will be comprehensive, encompassing a free-trade area, as well as wider sectoral cooperation ... underpinned by provisions ensuring a level playing field,” it said.
The post-Brexit relationship would respect “the integrity of the [European] Union’s single market and the customs union, as well as the United Kingdom’s internal market, and recognize the development of an independent trade policy by the United Kingdom beyond this economic partnership,” it said.
Both sides need an agreement to keep trade flowing between the world’s biggest trading bloc and the fifth-largest national economy.
However, British Prime Minister Theresa May has struggled to untangle nearly 46 years of membership without damaging trade or upsetting the lawmakers who would ultimately decide the fate of any deals she can secure.
Despite the hopes of financial firms in London, Britain secured no improvements to its proposed future trading relations in financial services.
The two sides reiterated that they wanted to replace a provisional agreement preventing the return of extensive border checks between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland with a permanent solution.
May updated her Cabinet on the state of talks by teleconference, but her spokesman said that no final deal can be agreed ahead of the EU summit on Sunday.
The pound rose nearly 1 percent to hit a day’s high of US$1.2894.
The draft declaration was to be screened by national envoys of the remaining 27 EU members meeting in Brussels yesterday.
The EU and Britain “should aim to deliver a level of liberalization in trade in services well beyond the parties’ WTO commitments,” the draft declaration said.
The transition period, which Britain and the EU hope will begin once Britain leaves the EU on March 29, can be extended “for up to one or two years,” it said.
May late yesterday told parliament that a deal was “within our grasp” and that she was “determined to deliver this deal.”
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
RSS