The Brexit transition period can be extended for several years beyond December 2020, not just a couple of months as UK Prime Minister Theresa May has recently said, UK media reported on Wednesday, citing leaked UK Cabinet papers.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th October, 2018) The Brexit transition period can be extended for several years beyond December 2020, not just a couple of months as UK Prime Minister Theresa May has recently said, UK media reported on Wednesday, citing leaked UK Cabinet papers.
On October 18, May said that she did not rule out the possibility of Brexit transition period extension "for a matter of months" after EU chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, allegedly proposed the extension in exchange for May agreeing to a two-stage backstop. Barnier's new offer reportedly envisaged a separate backstop plan for Northern Ireland, which would be part of the EU customs union, and a UK-wide customs solution.
According to The Times newspaper, UK officials warned the ministers that there was no guarantee that the United Kingdom would be able to quickly go through the extension period. The leaked documents stipulate that May's UK withdrawal plan can lead to a "long-running" implementation period. The papers also say that there is a possibility that the transition period extension will be reviewed annually.
While the United Kingdom will leave the European Union on March 29, 2019, with the transition period set to end in December 2020, London and Brussels still have not reached an agreement on a number of issues, such as the Irish border and the post-Brexit economic relations.
May's Brexit plan, adopted by the UK Cabinet in July, envisages the establishment of a UK-EU free trade area based on a "common rulebook" and the refusal to draw a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland. While the plan is not welcomed by the European Union over concerns that it threatens the integrity of the EU single market, some UK lawmakers also oppose the plan as they opt for a more hard-line approach to Brexit.
