Negotiators from the United Kingdom and the European Union are concluding a week of informal talks in Brussels on Friday, as the UK government's new Internal Market Bill continues to create further divisions
BRUSSELS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th September, 2020) Negotiators from the United Kingdom and the European Union are concluding a week of informal talks in Brussels on Friday, as the UK government's new Internal Market Bill continues to create further divisions.
The Internal Market Bill was introduced to the House of Commons on September 9 and raised eyebrows with its apparent attempts to override parts of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement, which was concluded in October 2019 and signed three months later.
The new bill, if it is passed into law, would allow UK ministers to alter rules on state aid and the movement of goods in Northern Ireland. One day before the bill was introduced to the House of Commons, Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis admitted that the proposed legislation could "break international law."
The Internal Market Bill passed its first reading in the Commons on Tuesday, with members of parliament voting 340-263 in favor, with two members of the ruling Conservative Party among those who voted against. In order to quell a potential Tory rebellion, Prime Minister Boris Johnson offered amendments that would give lawmakers a vote should the government look to invoke powers that would break international law.
Both London and Brussels have sought to blame each other amid the ongoing impasse at the negotiating table. Both parties have until the end of the transition period, which concludes at the end of the current year, to agree on a wide-ranging free trade deal.
The EU has thrown down the gauntlet and reportedly issued an ultimatum of October 15 for both sides to agree on a deal, and talks will continue to heat up in the weeks that lead up to this crucial date.
Following the publication of the Internal Market Bill, top eurocrat Maros Sefcovic traveled to London to hold talks with Tory minister Michael Gove. Both officials sit on the EU-UK Joint Committee, and Sefcovic, according to a European Commission press release, warned that the bill, if adopted, would constitute an "extremely serious violation" of international law and the Withdrawal Agreement.
During a later media appearance, Gove said that the UK was committed to the Withdrawal Agreement in its entirely, which includes the set of arrangements to ensure that there will not be a hard border on the island of Ireland, also known as the Northern Ireland Protocol. However, Gove added that the UK government will also push ahead with the implementation of the Internal Market Bill, should it pass both houses of the parliament.
According to Francis Cole, a retired high-level civil servant in Brussels who also acts as an adviser to Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage, the UK government's decision to push ahead with the Internal Market Bill reflects the strength of its parliamentary majority.
"The bilateral agreement (not a treaty) signed with Europe (the Withdrawal Agreement) was signed under duress in Brussels, at a time when the Conservatives did not have a majority in Westminster. This period is now over. If the EU took Britain to court as they threaten of doing, would that help? I would say not at all," Cole told Sputnik.
The UK's determined stance also reflects the strengths of current Prime Minister Boris Johnson, in comparison to his predecessor, Cole added.
"[The EU's chief Brexit negotiator] Michel Barnier, [Former European Council President] Donald Tusk or [Former European Commission President] Jean-Claude Juncker thought they got away with a weak Theresa May, but with Boris, the game is up. Brussels is panicking," he commented.
Barnier has warned that the future of the Good Friday Agreement, the 1998 deal that brought peace to Northern Ireland, is at stake, adding that food shortages may also be on the horizon. According to Cole, Barnier is attempting to stir up fear unnecessarily.
"Barnier is trying to muddy the waters and put fear in the heads of the people. It is real fear-mongering, going as far as speaking of food shortages," the former EU civil servant said.
Despite passing the first reading in the House of Commons, the Internal Market Bill will still face further scrutiny from lawmakers in the Commons and the House of Lords. Former Conservative Party leader, Lord Howard, told the BBC broadcaster on Thursday that peers in the Lords may offer stern resistance to the bill.
According to Cole, the government can expect to face some criticism as the bill is interrogated further.
"The bill still has to go to the House of Lords and the second reading in the Commons might bring some flak," the retired civil servant said.
Both the United Kingdom and the European Union have shown reluctance to compromise throughout the four years of negotiations following the June 2016 referendum that saw the UK population choose to leave the bloc.�
Alongside Northern Ireland, fisheries have been a major sticking point of the talks to date, with both sides looking unlikely to reach an agreement. However, a breakthrough may be on the horizon as UK newspapers reported earlier this week that the government may be willing to cede control of fishing grounds off the Channel Islands, allowing greater access for French and Dutch vessels.
Given that a lot of the UK's rhetoric on Brexit has been framed in terms of gaining independence from Europe, it remains unclear whether this compromise will be put into effect, Cole stated.
"It seems Boris Johnson has floated the idea of giving fishing rights to the EU in the waters all around the (British) Channel Islands (Jersey, Guernsey). Does it mean no access to European trawlers in the other British waters? The fishing rights are very symbolic of the coming British independence from Europe. We don't know now," the former EU civil servant remarked.
The ongoing Brexit dispute has also piqued the interest of officials in the United States, including Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi.
On September 10, Pelosi said in a statement that the US Congress would not approve any US-UK trade deal should London harm the Good Friday Agreement. Biden this past Wednesday also stepped into the dispute, writing on Twitter that the peace deal cannot become a "casualty of Brexit."
UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has spent the majority of the week in the United States meeting with high-level officials. During a joint press conference alongside his US counterpart Mike Pompeo on Wednesday, Raab said that any threat to the Good Friday Agreement was the result of the EU's "politicization" of the issue.
In a later appearance on the CNN broadcaster, the UK foreign secretary said that London was committed to avoiding all infrastructure on the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, adding that Brussels had failed to display such a commitment.
"I think actually if the EU did come out and make the same commitment it would also help the negotiations. So I hope our American colleagues will reinforce that point on both sides," Raab told the broadcaster.
The ninth round of negotiations between the United Kingdom and the European Union are expected to be held from September 28 to October 2.
With less than a month until the EU's self-imposed deadline, and just over three months until the end of the transition period itself, the pressure is truly on negotiators from London and Brussels to conclude the required agreements.
