The State of the European Union. The European states facing the reforms of the Union

SPRING 2018 BREXIT NEGOTIATIONS: PROGRESS AND FUTURE PROSPECTS

3. Going forward, the European Council will

“ensure a balance of rights and obligations,

preserve a level playing field, avoid upsetting

existing relations with third countries and

guarantee respect for all other principles set

out in its guidelines of 29 April 2017, in par-

ticular the need to preserve the integrity and

proper functioning of the Single Market”.

This fecund, complex statement provides a

preliminary glimpse of issues to be negoti-

ated in the context of the future relationship

between the UK and the EU. Of particular

interest is a new red line nestled in this sen-

tence alongside guidelines established in

2017, which is the need to avoid upsetting

existing relations with third countries. Its ad-

dition reflects concern regarding the possi-

bility (already raised by a number of the

Union’s preferential trading partners) that

conceding the UK privileged trading status

could unleash a torrent of requests from

third countries to renegotiate their existing

agreements

. To wit, the EU will enter this

phase of negotiations with two bottom lines:

preserving the current European model of

integration and maintaining its relationships

with third countries.

On 29 January 2018 the Council adopted new

guidelines Barnier’s team are to follow during

One example is CETA, the contents of which many ex-

perts believe will need to be renegotiated immediately as a

consequence of the UK’s withdrawal from the Union. Neu-

wahl, N., “CETA as a Potential Model for (Post-Brexit) UK-

EU Relations”,

European Foreign Affairs Review,

vol. 22, no.

3, 2017, pp. 279-301, p. 300.

negotiations on the transition period

. These

include the Commission’s proposal that transi-

tion should terminate in December 2020 in par-

allel with the end of EU’s current seven-year

budget and other provisions concerning rights

and obligations during this period. Barnier pre-

sented a position paper in February that set out

transition conditions based on the Council’s

guidelines

. This document would form part of

a more comprehensive draft withdrawal agree-

ment presented by the Commission on 28

February that articulated political agreements

reached in legal terms and proposed wording

for points yet to be fully resolved

. From this

point on, negotiation would be conducted on

the basis of this text. Barnier’s initiative placed

the EU in a superior negotiating position from

the outset by establishing the terms upon which

discussions would focus.

In spite of initial indications that the process

could be rocky, negotiations on the transition

Council of the European Union,

Annex to the Council

Decision supplementing the Council Decision of 22 May

2017 authorising the opening of the negotiations with the

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland for

an agreement setting out the arrangements for its with-

drawal from the European Union - Supplementary direc-

tives for the negotiation of an agreement with the United

Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland setting out

the arrangements for its withdrawal from the European

Union, Brussels

, 29 January 2018, (XT 21004/18).

European Commission (Task Force Art. 50):

Position Pa-

per “Transitional Arrangements in the Withdrawal Agree-

ment”,

Brussels, 7 February 2018, (TF50 (2018) 30).

European Commission (Task Force Art. 50):

Draft With-

drawal Agreement on the withdrawal of the United King-

dom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the Euro-

pean Union and the European Atomic Energy Community

Brussels, 28 February 2018, (TF50 (2018) 33).