Maria Laura Avignolo
12/24/2020 11:55 AM
Clarín.com
World
Updated 12/24/2020 12:00
Britain is leaving Europe with a
historic
trade
deal
under its belt.
The best
Christmas gift
for the Brexiteers and the most resigned acceptance of the pro Europeans, who lost the referendum four years ago not to leave the Union.
After a negotiation that lasted all night on Wednesday, both of them
claim victory
but there are
winners and losers.
The delicately balanced compromise on fisheries, the non-regression of existing standards and the absence of a role for the Court of Justice of the European Communities will be presented as a victory for both parties.
The art of diplomacy.
The agreement covers arrangements for
trade, safety and fisheries
, as well as scientific cooperation and regulatory alignment. It will also mean that British companies will continue to have duty-free
and quota-
free access
to European markets beyond the end of the year.
An official phone call from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to the president of the European Commission, Ursula Van der Leyen, put an end to a psychodrama, which left the kingdom divided as never before and the rest fed up with hearing about Brexit.
A press conference on both sides of the English Channel, in London and in Brussels, ended
years of fruitless
and difficult
negotiations
until the last minute.
Fishing was the point that maintained the differences until the end, but the brutality of the pandemic and economic fragility in the midst of the coronavirus made everyone more pragmatic.
Despite hopes that the deal would be announced Wednesday night, it was delayed as lawyers and negotiators tried to translate the final commitments, particularly on fisheries, into binding legal text.
They worked all night on Thursday.
Downing Street sources said the deal would give British companies
access to EU markets
with "zero fees, zero quotas", without the European Union Court of Justice playing a role in monitoring the deal.
A demand demanded by the ultra Brexiteers.
It will be the largest trade agreement ever signed by either party, worth
£
668 billion
.
Barnier lost control
The European negotiator, Frenchman Michael Barnier, lost control of the details in the last 48 hours.
A secret conversation between Boris and the president of the European Commission, Úrsula Van der Leyen last Monday brought the negotiations to a level of political leadership in the EU.
Chancellor Angela Merkel on the one hand and President Emmanuel Macron, confined to La Lanterne with coronavirus, were behind these final transactions. Macron and Boris spoke at least twice.
German pragmatism prevailed over Emmanuel Macron's whim to make Boris Johnson pay
a high price
, even higher than the closure of the Franco-British border, with 10,000 stranded truckers and Christmas in the cabs of his trucks.
He is convinced that Britain will return to the EU
in less than a year.
The EU headquarters in Brussels.
Photo: AP
British and European negotiators, lawyers and translators implemented these matches throughout the entire morning.
The last minute nature of the negotiations means that the European Parliament will not vote on the deal before December 31.
It will have to be ratified
"provisionally"
by the member states.
The House of Commons needs 48 hours to convene.
It could meet next Sunday for this "express" ratification.
The negotiations
Negotiations had continued well into Wednesday night over
fishing arrangements,
one of the latest sticking points in the talks.
A long morning waiting at any minute for the announcement of the agreement.
First at midnight, then at 3 in the morning.
Finally on Christmas Eve.
The delay and negotiation that lasted through the night was because of the details of the fishing quotas.
The devil is in the details at the last minute of a historic negotiation.
Downing St., the seat of the British government.
Photo: Bloomberg
Johnson had been in contact with Von der Leyen at least four times Wednesday, at the end of eight months of torturous negotiations.
The commission chair was also engaged in furious telephone diplomacy with EU capitals, as she sought to push the talks to the limit.
European leaders were in favor of an exit without further trauma.
France had to calm its domestic public opinion and its fishermen who had defended them, with 18 months to go before the presidential elections.
An official plane was dispatched to collect and reassure the exhausted delegation of British negotiators, who would return to Britain
to celebrate the deal
and Christmas.
Details of the agreement
The agreement includes unprecedented provisions for
zero tariffs
or fees on all goods.
It also explains how they will resolve future agreements on a wide range of issues, from
aviation and transportation
to civil nuclear cooperation and energy.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson summoned the Cabinet at 11 pm on Wednesday to announce that
the deal was "imminent"
and that he needed their help to sell the treaty.
The main problem for Boris begins now, when
the details
are known
.
If there are too many
concessions
, to the "Red Wall" or red wall, the ultra Brexiteers will accuse you of having yielded in sovereignty.
That's the point where he, in ways at least,
couldn't budge.
The British flag flies in London.
Photo: Bloomberg
The UK left the EU on January 31, following the June 2016 referendum. But it has remained in the bloc's single market and customs union for a one-year transition period.
That deadline expires on December 31.
The agreement sets the conditions for freedom of movement and for trade flows to remain frictionless.
Leak war
A leak war hampered the final hours of the deal.
A French official said Britain had made "huge" concessions on EU fishing rights in British waters, worth 587 million pounds to the European fishing fleet, including a share worth 155 million pounds to France.
On fisheries in particular, the official said the final British position was "far" from the three-year transition and the 80 per cent reduction in quotas demanded by London at the start of the talks.
British sources emphasized that exports worth 294 billion pounds a year
would be safeguarded
, without a loss of sovereignty.
They said the UK would have full control over its waters after a transition, which would be six or seven years, with all quotas subject to annual negotiations and further reductions.
Spokespeople for Downing St dismissed Paris's claims.
But Downing Street faced immediate threats from the European Research Group (ERG) of Tory Brexiteer advocates.
The fear of ultra brexiteers
One of the delays in the announcement was the prime minister's desire to prepare the ground with key representatives before unveiling the deal.
Downing Street was making a series of calls to important figures throughout the night from Wednesday to Thursday to seduce them.
In a joint statement, the group's chairman and vice chairman, ultra Brexiteers Mark Francois and David Jones, said they would commission a self-described "star chamber" of lawyers to analyze the treaty provisions before deciding whether to endorse.
They are the other threat on Boris.
The agreement
is over 2000 pages long
and is going to be scrutinized by all parties, especially their legislators.
It must also be
translated
into the languages of the 27 countries of the Union.
"The ERG will return to the panel of legal experts, chaired by Sir Bill Cash, on Thursday to examine the details and the legal text," said the ultraBrexiteers.
The previously highly experienced team of lawyers, known as the 'Star Chamber', first met in 2019 to examine the legal aspects of Theresa May's original retirement agreement.
"Since the new agreement
is
also
very complex,
the chamber will examine it in detail, to make sure that its provisions really protect the sovereignty of the United Kingdom, after we exit the transition period at the end of this year," said the Brexiteers. hard.
If Brexiteers can be certain, it was given to them by Nigel Farage, the Brexit ideologue: “
The war is over
.
Boris has done what he promised to do ”.
In another symbol of Brexit,
the first ferry with trucks
with Covid-negative drivers began to travel up the English Channel to the continent on Thursday.
France sent its firefighters with 10,000 rapid tests to speed up the departure of thousands of stranded truckers, in an image that synthesized the differences between Great Britain and the EU.
Paris, correspondent
ap
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