Brussels,
\nBritain and the European Union on Monday reached a landmark deal on a transition phase that will last for nearly two years after the historic Brexit divorce next<\/p>\n
year, EU negotiator Michel Barnier said.<\/p>\n
The two sides also agreed on a “backstop” solution for the thorny issue of the future of the Irish border, just weeks after Prime Minister Theresa May said no<\/p>\n
British premier could ever accept such an idea.<\/p>\n
After an “intensive” weekend of talks in Brussels, Barnier said the two sides were “in agreement on a large part” of the divorce treaty governing the terms of<\/p>\n
Britain’s departure after four decades of membership.<\/p>\n
“We have reached an agreement on the transition period,” Barnier told a press conference with Davis.<\/p>\n
The transition will begin on Brexit day – March 29, 2019 — and last until December 31, 2020, and during that period, Britain “will no longer participate in the<\/p>\n
European Union decision-making process,” Barnier said.<\/p>\n
“Nevertheless, it will preserve the benefits, the advantages of the single market and the customs union… and will therefore be required to respect all the<\/p>\n
European rules just like all member states do.” Davis told the news conference that the transition deal “gives the certainty demanded by businesses and citizens<\/p>\n
across Britain and the European Union”.<\/p>\n
Both sides wanted the transition deal in place so that it could be signed off by EU leaders at a Brussels summit later this week, allowing the unlocking of talks on<\/p>\n
the future British-EU relationship in April.<\/p>\n
The purpose of the transition period is twofold: to give businesses and citizens time to adjust to life after Brexit, and to give Britain and the EU more time to<\/p>\n
agree on a trade deal.<\/p>\n
Britain also agreed in principle to the EU’s “backstop” plan for the status of the Irish border, under which British-ruled Northern Ireland would remain part of the<\/p>\n
EU’s customs union if there is no better idea.<\/p>\n
The thorny issue will, however, require further talks to be fully resolved, the two sides said.<\/p>\n
The EU insists that any divorce deal must ensure there is no “hard border” between EU member Ireland and Northern Ireland, saying it could compromise the<\/p>\n
1998 peace accord that ended decades of sectarian violence in the British province.<\/p>\n
Several weeks ago, May said “no UK prime minister could ever agree” to the plan, saying it would compromise Britain’s constitutional integrity and effectively<\/p>\n
draw up a border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n
The idea was also deemed “unacceptable” by the pro-British party in Northern Ireland that props up her government.<\/p>\n
“We agreed today that the backstop solution must form part of the legal text of the withdrawal agreement,” Barnier said.<\/p>\n
The remaining 27 EU countries say Britain must agree to terms on Northern Ireland before it will sign off on the final version of their divorce agreement and<\/p>\n
advance to trade talks in April.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Brussels, Britain and the European Union on Monday reached a landmark deal on a transition phase that will last for nearly two years after the historic Brexit divorce next year, EU negotiator Michel Barnier said. The two sides also agreed on a “backstop” solution for the thorny issue of the future of the Irish border, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25396,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[87],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25395"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25397,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25395\/revisions\/25397"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}