UK officials seek draft agreements with EU before triggering article 50

[TubbersUK]

UK officials have been trying to reach an outline agreement with European leaders on the sequence of Brexit talks, including a discussion about whether the terms of Britain leaving the EU can be negotiated at the same time as talks about the future trade relationship.

Theresa May and her Brexit departments in Whitehall do not want to concede any ground on triggering article 50, the clause that starts the two-year negotiating process, until this can be clarified. The sequence question is an essential in the opening phase in the tactical battle, with the UK being in a weaker position if the negotiations are rigidly organised.

There is a danger that the UK would leave the EU only to find itself in a legal limbo in which the status of critical trade, security and environmental laws have not been clarified. That applies not just to access to the EU single market, but a variety of other critical functions, ranging from the European arrest warrant to data sharing and climate change laws.

Under the article 50 procedure, member states must first negotiate the terms of their departure before negotiating a future deal with the EU.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jul/22/brexit-talks-uk-limbo-sequence-negotiations-eu

This, the sequencing agreement, is one to watch IMO.

[MADem]

1. Didn't EU basically tell UK to pound sand, that there would be no pre-conditions?

Or was that just a fit of pique?

[TubbersUK]

2. They did indeed

These early talks on sequencing are going to be an interesting weathervane.


EU commissioner says Brexit negotiation must precede trade talks

Her remarks were condemned by the Tory leadership candidate and Brexit supporter Liam Fox as “bizarre, stupid, preposterous and ridiculous”. He said the commission’s view of how the negotiations would be conducted would have to be handed over to the elected national politicians at the head of the council of ministers.

He said it was ridiculous to think that French and German politicians would have to go into their national elections next year telling their electorates they do not know how much French wine or German cars they are going to be able to export. He said the commissioner’s stance was doubly bizarre since she had admitted her timetable and interpretation of the procedure would damage the economies of the EU.

There had been an expectation that Brexit talks would run in parallel with one set of talks negotiating the specific terms of the UK exit – a partly backward-looking technical exercise – with a more forward-looking set of talks on the terms of UK access to the vast EU single market, and specifically the terms of a trade deal, including tariff barriers.

Malmström said that after Brexit, the UK would become a “third country” in EU terms, meaning trade would be carried out based on WTO rules until a new deal was complete.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jul/01/cecilia-malmstrom-eu-trade-commissioner-brexit-uk-wto