A SUMMIT of EU leaders could be held by the end of the month – potentially on November 25 – to sign off the draft Brexit withdrawal agreement, Irish Premier Leo Varadkar has signalled.
“It is yet to be agreed by the UK Government and they will discuss it this afternoon, and it is yet to be agreed by the European Council, and we may be in a position to have an emergency European Council meeting before the end of the month to do exactly that,” he said yesterday.
A leaked diplomatic note obtained by The Times suggested Sabine Weyand – deputy to EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier – told ambassadors the UK “would have to swallow a link between access to products and fisheries in future agreements”, and it also indicated that close customs alignment should remain indefinitely.
According to the note, Weyand said: “We should be in the best negotiation position for the future relationship. This requires the customs union as the basis of the future relationship.
“They must align their rules but the EU will retain all the controls. They apply the same rules. UK wants a lot more from future relationship, so EU retains its leverage.”
However, questions were raised over the leaked note after Weyand “liked” a series of tweets suggesting it was “not an accurate reflection of the EU’s position”.
The draft agreement of more than 400 pages is understood to involve the UK remaining in a customs union and committing to a “level playing field” on EU rules in areas like environmental and workplace protections during a backstop period after Brexit.
Cabinet ministers are also looking at a brief political declaration – possibly as short as five pages – setting out an outline framework agreed by EU and UK negotiators for future relations on issues like trade and security.
In an apparent response to Weyand’s note, Theresa May said: “I am aware of the concerns there are, that we don’t want to be in a position where the European Union would find it comfortable to keep the UK in the backstop permanently. That’s why any backstop has to be temporary.”
The “backstop” is intended as a fallback arrangement to avoid a hard border in Ireland unless a wider trade agreement can resolve the issue.
Reports have suggested the agreement creates an independent arbitration committee that will judge when the backstop could be terminated, with a review six months before the end of the transition period in
December 2020.
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