U.K. Eyes Longer Brexit Transition and Asks EU to Talk Dates
Transition must last until new systems are in place, U.K. says.
(Bloomberg) -- U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May is asking the European Union for flexibility on the length of the Brexit transition period with just over a year before the country leaves the bloc.
Britain has said it wants an implementation period to last around two years, while the EU has stipulated an end date of Dec. 31, 2020. But the U.K.’s proposal suggests it wants a longer bridging phase that lasts until it is no longer needed. That risks inflaming May’s already tense relations with Conservative euroskeptics.
“The U.K. believes the period’s duration should be determined simply by how long it will take to prepare and implement the new processes and new systems that will underpin the future partnership,” May’s government said in a legal document published on Wednesday. “The U.K. agrees this points to a period of around two years, but wishes to discuss with the EU the assessment that supports its proposed end date,” according to the draft.
Stewart Jackson, Brexit Secretary Davis Davis’s chief of staff, insisted the government hasn’t changed its plan for a transition lasting “around two years.”
Set in Stone
“There is going to be a date set in stone,” James Slack, May’s government spokesman told reporters. “A date will be fixed when we hopefully reach agreement on the implementation period,” so by the end of March.
He clarified that while the U.K. was seeking around two years, the EU were saying 21 months. The end of 2021, for example, would constitute “a long way beyond two years,” Slack said in London.
Britain doesn’t rule out pushing for the period to last until the end of June 2021, as suggested by Davis last month, a person familiar with the country’s position said on condition of anonymity.
Among issues to be discussed with the EU is the length of time it will take to establish new customs arrangements, the person said.
The legal text sets out Britain’s proposals for a transitional agreement to take effect after it leaves the EU in March 2019. The idea of a transition phase is to smooth the U.K.’s path out of the bloc and provide time for British and European businesses to adjust to the new arrangements.
In the preamble of the document, the British government says that there is a “broad alignment” between EU and U.K. positions, “with only a small number of areas requiring discussion.”
Among those is the “means by which Union law will apply to the U.K. during” the transition period and “arrangements” that “protect the rights and interests of both parties.”
On Monday night, a letter emerged from 62 Brexit-supporting Tory lawmakers to the prime minister in which they demanded restrictions on any transitional terms that May agrees on.
To contact the reporters on this story: Tim Ross in London at tross54@bloomberg.net, Nikos Chrysoloras in Brussels at nchrysoloras@bloomberg.net, Ian Wishart in Brussels at iwishart@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Flavia Krause-Jackson at fjackson@bloomberg.net.
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