EU sets deadline of 31 December 2020 for UK Brexit transition period to end
The UK’s Brexit transition period should end by the 31 December, 2020, the EU has said.
The EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, said the UK will retain the benefits and obligations of EU membership until the transition period ends.
The European Commission said it had today sent a recommendation to the European Council to begin discussions on the next phase of the “orderly withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union”.
The Commission set out some details of how the negotiations will proceed, and said “in particular”:
There should be no “cherry picking”: The United Kingdom will continue to participate in the Customs Union and the Single Market (with all four freedoms). The Union acquis should continue to apply in full to and in the United Kingdom as if it were a Member State. Any changes made to the acquis during this time should automatically apply to the United Kingdom.
All existing Union regulatory, budgetary, supervisory, judiciary and enforcement instruments and structures will apply, including the competence of the Court of Justice of the European Union.
The United Kingdom will be a third country as of 30 March 2019. As a result, it will no longer be represented in Union institutions, agencies, bodies and offices.
The transition period needs to be clearly defined and precisely limited in time. The Commission recommends that it should not last beyond 31 December 2020.
The next step, in line with the Council’s guidelines of 15 December, will see the the General Affairs Counciladopt these additional negotiating directives on transitional arrangements in January 2018.