The deal is far from over: Britain and the EU will remain in talks for months or years to fill gaps in the treaty, including financial services and rules that allow professionals to work across borders. But Johnson claimed to have struck a “cake deal” – a reference to his belief that it was possible to have his cake and eat it: sovereignty and access to the EU market. In a political declaration on the future relationship in October 2019, the UK and the EU agreed to create a new basis for trade in financial services by June 2020 – based on the assessment of the “equivalence” of mutual rules. British officials insist they tried to get a better deal, but the EU left Britain on hold. It is instructive to note that in the 1,246-page “Trade and Cooperation Agreement”, the word “fish” appears 368 times, compared to 90 references to financial services. Yet fishing accounts for 0.1% of the UK economy, and the sector has always claimed to have been “betrayed” by Johnson. The Covid-19 pandemic has made the negotiations even more stilted, with chief negotiators on both sides being crushed by the virus shortly after the talks began. Endless online sessions, sometimes interrupted by the sound of children crying in the background, caused officials to see far more of their colleagues` personal lives than they expected or even wanted, from a room with strange hats and a bird cage to an impressive selection of kitchen knives. At the heart of the disagreement was the EU`s insistence that if Britain wanted duty-free access to its single market for nearly 450 million people, it should not allow it to significantly undermine the European economic model, with its high standards of workers` rights. climate change and subsidies.
If the United Kingdom significantly undermines the level playing field, its access to the market should be restricted. After nearly 50 years of membership in the European club, Johnson wanted sovereignty, pure and simple. By the end of the summer, it was clear that Britain was heading for a very basic trade deal and that the City of London, worth £132 billion to the country`s economy, would be missing. Brussels, as well as EU leaders such as France`s Emmanuel Macron, have rejected the UK`s efforts to secure market-based permits for the city and enshrine future cooperation on financial regulations in the deal. At the end of the negotiations, 437 British officials from 25 government departments and agencies would attend around 1,000 negotiating sessions. But the first rounds of trade negotiations in the spring and early summer of 2020 were largely fruitless. “We were basically shouting at each other,” said a British official. Ambitions expressed in a 2019 joint “political declaration” on the future relationship were watered down by London as the prime minister focused on freeing up the EU`s orbit. But although the UK has officially pursued a “only for Canada” agenda, Brussels has become frustrated that the country is still trying to preserve some of the benefits of the single market under the guise of a basic trade deal. Johnson admitted that the EU deal for financial services, which employ more than a million people and account for about 7 percent of Britain`s GDP, “doesn`t go as far as we`d like.” In fact, many City of London leaders are actually saying this is a no-deal Brexit for them – a widely anticipated problem where companies have moved staff and capital from London to EU centres in recent years to access European markets.
Each of the 100 officials recruited by Frost was told that Johnson was serious. “It was swept at every meeting,” says one of them as the team prepared for an exhausting negotiation that lasted from March to Christmas Eve, shared between London and Brussels, in the midst of a pandemic. He adds: “It was a very big philosophical principle that we wanted to prove: that it is possible to have a free trade agreement without having to accept EU law. That is how we would be judged as negotiators. As of January 2021, arrangements designed to facilitate the operations of UK and EU financial services companies in each other`s markets were still not in place, and some companies – as Macron had predicted – began to infiltrate them outside London, as David Howson saw with his own eyes when he returned to work after the New Year. Ivan Rogers, a former British ambassador to the EU, described the deal as “a big disappointment” that would hit small businesses harder than multinationals. “Large companies will find it easier to rely on a commercial presence in the markets they want or to build a commercial presence,” he says. France has taken over the rotating EU presidency until the end of June Ministers are due to draw up a major strategy for green energy, resilient transport and smart immigration There are still many hurdles to overcome, but with negotiations resuming next week, there is a lot of pressure to reach a deal that ranks lower than fish and we know it. It`s just a life reality The bill for Johnson`s relentless focus on sovereignty is now due. The government`s agreement allows for the continuation of duty-free trade for goods considered to be manufactured in the UK or the EU. However, Britain`s exit from the customs union and the single market on 1 January created a thicket of customs declarations, health checks and other barriers to trade.
Services that make up 80% of the UK economy, including its crown jewel – the City of London – get little information. Then , $69 per monthNew customers onlydisclaim at any time during your trial, summer came and went. Barnier tried to lift the blockade of the negotiations by proposing to remove any role of the European Court of Justice in future relations. It was a pet peeve for the Conservatives, but he felt he didn`t get much in return. British officials say his frustration has often shown: “It was a fairly common event for him to shout at us, `I`m calm!` However, there were more convivial moments, such as when Frost and Barnier dined at General Charles de Gaulle`s war residence at Carlton Gardens in London. As negotiations approached the deadline, Britain headed for what Rogers called “the elephant trap,” where Brussels would make concessions when time shifted to No Deal — an outcome that would be more painful for Britain than for the EU. To get through the tough hours in Brussels, Frost and his exhausted team sipped whiskey at the British ambassador`s residence. “There was a night when we were chatting about our favorite Batman — Frosty could only think of Adam West,” a British official said. No moment sums up the cultural divide between Johnson and the EU better than a crucial dinner on December 9 at the headquarters of the European Commission: the Prime Minister has made clear his determination to recover Britain`s sovereignty at all costs, even if it means leaving trade negotiations without a deal. Gavin Barwell, Theresa May`s former chief of staff, said a deal was possible because it met the goals of both sides: sovereignty for Johnson and duty-free access to the UK for the EU, while demanding an economic toll for Britain.
“That`s why we got this thin agreement,” he says. Trevelyan says both countries want the deal signed and sealed before the 2024 elections EU diplomats note that Britain has pushed Brussels into a hawkish stance on market access by waiting so long to give in to the EU over the bloc`s core interests – confidence has been bolstered by Johnson`s threat to break international law. damaged. Ultimately, the UK agreed to include the idea of “rebalancing measures” in the agreement, so that if one party deviates significantly from the other party`s rules, it could be subject to sanctions in the form of tariffs. Get local news from Lisbon to Moscow with an unrivalled network of journalists across Europe, expert analysis and our special newsletter “Brussels Briefing”. .