Brexit Link

The UK left the EU at midnight CET (23.00 GMT) on 31 January 2020. A transition period is now in place until 31 December 2020. During this period all EU rules and laws will continue to apply to the UK. Virtually nothing will change for businesses or for the public. This will give everyone more time to prepare for the new agreements that the EU and the UK intend to make after 31 December 2020.

On 17 October 2019 the UK and the EU reached an agreement on the conditions for the UK’s departure from the EU (Brexit), and on a transition period until 31 December 2020. The transition period will not be extended. The UK has said that it does not want an extension. The option of an extension was contained in the withdrawal agreement. The UK and the EU had until 1 July 2020 to agree on a possible extension.

Both sides are now eyeing October’s European Council meeting as a de facto deadline, to allow time to pin the deal down before the transition period ends at 11 p.m. U.K. time on December 31.

During the transition period the UK and the EU are continuing to negotiate their new relationship. This includes agreeing on how companies in the EU will be able to do business in and with the UK after the transition period. They will also negotiate on security cooperation.

The new relationship will only become clear when the negotiations are complete, at the end of the transition period. The new agreements will enter into force after the transition period, which will end on 31 December 2020. The EU countries must first approve these new agreements. If the UK and the EU are unable to reach agreement, there will be a ‘no deal’ Brexit. This will happen at the end of the transition period.

Ci Consulta’s Communiq.EU is following closely the developments on BREXIT.

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EU hopes to solve Northern Ireland’s Brexit trade issues by year-end

22nd September 2021

BRUSSELS, Sept 21 (Reuters) - The European Union hopes to resolve the trading difficulties of Northern Ireland by the end of the year, the EU's post-Brexit coordinator said on Tuesday, while warning London against unilaterally suspending the terms of the divorce deal. European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic, who oversees EU relations with Britain, once again rejected a British demand...

Malta allocated €40m from Brexit Adjustment Fund

16th September 2021

MEPs approved the €5 billion Brexit Adjustment Reserve to help member states deal with the economic, social and territorial impact of the UK’s departure from the EU. The agreement to set up the special fund, reached by Parliament and Council negotiators in June, was adopted with 652 in favour, 32 against and 11 abstentions. €1.6 billion will be distributed in 2021. The remaining €3.4 billion ...

UK still wants full negotiation with EU on N. Ireland trade

14th September 2021

Full negotiations are needed with the European Union to resolve issues with the deal governing post-Brexit trade with Northern Ireland, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spokesman said on Tuesday. Last week, the EU rejected a British demand to renegotiate the Northern Ireland protocol, saying that to do so would only bring instability and uncertainty. Johnson's spokesman said there ha...

EU rejects reworking N. Ireland deal, urges calmer tone

11th September 2021

BELFAST, Sept 10 (Reuters) - The European Union rejected a British demand to renegotiate their deal governing the trading position of Northern Ireland, saying that to so would only bring instability and uncertainty. European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic, who oversees EU relations with post-Brexit Britain, said on Friday that the Northern Ireland protocol needed to be properly imple...

UK to extend Northern Ireland’s Brexit grace periods

7th September 2021

Britain plans to further extend post-Brexit grace periods on some goods imports to Northern Ireland, Brexit minister David Frost said on Monday, in a move designed to give London and Brussels more time for talks about trade with the province. The fate of British-ruled Northern Ireland was the most contentious issue in Britain's negotiations over its exit...

UK government rejects call for new visas to ease post-Brexit truck driver shortage

29th August 2021

LONDON, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Britain's government has rejected calls from retail and logistics companies to temporarily ease post-Brexit immigration rules which they say are contributing to a shortage of truck drivers and acute supply chain disruption. Fast food chains McDonald's, KFC, and Nando's, as well as bakery chain Greggs, have all faced disruption this week as suppliers struggled to deli...

Top earning bankers shifted from Britain to EU ahead of Brexit

18th August 2021

Britain lost nearly a hundred highly paid bankers ahead of its departure from the European Union, the bloc's banking watchdog said on Wednesday, the latest confirmation of how Brexit has reshaped Europe's financial sector and tax base. The European Banking Authority (EBA) said in its annual survey of bankers paid a million euros ($1.17 million) or more a year that Britain saw a drop of 95 ...

Ireland’s goods imports from Britain drop 32% in first half of 2021

17th August 2021

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland's goods imports from Britain were 32% lower in the first half of the year compared with 2020 after posting the smallest monthly decline in June since new post-Brexit trade barriers came into force at the start of the year, data showed on Monday. Irish goods exports to Britain, which is not set to impose checks until later this year, rose by 68% year-on-year in June t...

Northern Ireland protocol: here’s what a compromise between EU and UK could look like

2nd August 2021

The EU has announced it will suspend its legal action against the UK for allegedly breaching the Northern Ireland protocol by unilaterally extending grace periods related to trade between Great Britain and the province. The intention is for both parties to discuss realistic and practical solutions to the trade issues arising from the protocol, which is the agreement they negotiated to avoid a har...

Northern Ireland set to lose access to 2,000 medicines – FT

24th July 2021

About 2,000 medicines currently offered to patients in Northern Ireland and made in Great Britain are set to be withdrawn as drugs manufacturers grapple with onerous post-Brexit red tape, the Financial Times reports. The threat of serious disruption to drugs supplies came as European commission president Ursula von der Leyen warned UK prime minister Boris Johnson that Brussels would not reneg...

France rejects UK Brexit renegotiation request

23rd July 2021

France's Europe minister Clement Beaune rejected Britain's request to renegotiate the Brexit deal governing trade with Northern Ireland, dismissing British accusations of European dogmatism as a "tall tale". Britain on Wednesday demanded a new deal from the European Union to govern post-Brexit trade with the British province, saying it already had cause to step away from parts of the deal ...

EU rejects UK demand for new post-Brexit deal on Northern Ireland

21st July 2021

LONDON, July 21 (Reuters) - Britain demanded on Wednesday that the European Union agree to rewrite a deal overseeing problematic post-Brexit trade involving Northern Ireland just a year after it was agreed with the bloc, a call immediately rejected by Brussels. The Northern Ireland protocol was part of the Brexit settlement, backed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, that finally sealed Britain's...

UPDATED: UK demands new deal on post-Brexit trade for N.Ireland

21st July 2021

Britain on Wednesday demanded a new deal from the European Union to govern post-Brexit trade with Northern Ireland, saying it already had cause to step away from parts of the deal that it struck with Brussels only last year. The Northern Ireland protocol, backed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, was part of the settlement that finally sealed Britain's sometimes bitter divorce from the bloc,...

UK to warn EU it may deviate from Brexit deal on N.Ireland -sources

19th July 2021

BRUSSELS/LONDON, July 19 (Reuters) - Britain will threaten this week to deviate from the Brexit deal unless the European Union shows more flexibility over Northern Ireland, one UK and three EU sources told Reuters, a move that could thrust the five-year Brexit divorce into tumult. Deviating from the deal's so-called Northern Ireland Protocol is a risky step: its aim was to prevent Brexit from ...

Brexit deal’s N.Ireland protocol not sustainable – UK’s Frost

19th July 2021

The element of the Brexit deal which relates to trade with Northern Ireland is not sustainable and Britain is keeping all options on the table over how it might act, British minister David Frost said on Monday. "We all know the protocol is not sustainable in the way it's working at the moment," Frost told a parliamentary committee, saying barriers on goods moving between mainland Britain a...

British supermarkets may shift supply chains to EU if N.Ireland trade not addressed

18th July 2021

LONDON (Reuters) - British supermarket groups, including Tesco, Sainsbury's and Asda, said on Sunday they may shift some supply chains from the UK to the European Union unless the future of Britain-Northern Ireland trade is addressed urgently. Current post-Brexit trading arrangements between Britain and Northern Ireland are governed by the Northern Ireland protocol. This was designed to strike...

Dover warns of Brexit trade disruption as tourists hit Europe

9th July 2021

Trade disruption could return if British holidaymakers head for European summer breaks, the head of the country's biggest port said, calling on the government to urgently reconsider funding to redevelop Dover to prevent long-term damage. Britain's passage out of the European Union was eased by a lack of tourist traffic to France during the COVID-19 pandemic, enabling port staff to process ...

UPDATED: EU says UK liable to pay 47.5 billion euros to EU in post-Brexit settlement

9th July 2021

The European Union said that the United Kingdom is liable to pay 47.5 billion euros ($56.2 billion) to the EU as part of its post-Brexit financial settlement. The EU's consolidated budget report for 2020 said that the money is owed under a series of articles which both sides agreed to as part of the Brexit withdrawal agreement. The UK Treasury, however, insisted the Brexit divorce settl...

EU says will step up legal action if UK does not respect agreement

6th July 2021

The European Union will have no choice but to step up its legal proceedings against Britain if London does not fall in line with its obligations on Northern Ireland under the Brexit agreement, European Commissioner Maros Sefcovic said on Tuesday. "Unfortunately, the unilateral measures the UK government took in March contradicted this ... spirit of joint action and cle...

UK receives 6 million applications to EU settlement scheme before deadline

2nd July 2021

Britain said on Friday it had received 6 million applications to its settlement scheme for European Union nationals before a June 30 deadline passed. After completing its exit from the EU late last year, Britain has started bringing in a new immigration system. EU citizens who can prove they were living in Britain before Dec. 31 last year will retain the right to work, study and access ben...

EU agrees ‘ceasefire’ with Britain in post-Brexit trade dispute dubbed as ‘sausage war’

30th June 2021

The European Union agreed on Wednesday to a ceasefire with Britain in a post-Brexit dispute dubbed the "sausage war" by extending a grace period for shipments of certain meat products from mainland United Kingdom to Northern Ireland. The bloc will also make it easier for medicines and guide dogs to cross the Irish Sea and allow Northern Irish drivers to travel to Ireland with existing insuranc...

Deadline for EU citizens to apply for settled status to stay in UK after Brexit looms

30th June 2021

British Ministers have rejected demands to allow more time for EU citizens to register to stay in the UK after Brexit by declaring: "Don't delay, apply today." The deadline for applying for post-Brexit residency under the government's EU Settlement Scheme passes at midnight, with claims of a backlog of more than 300,000 cases. And some EU citizens who have lived in the UK for many years...

Britain lays out post-Brexit plan for new state subsidies scheme

30th June 2021

Britain said it wanted to help businesses to access state aid with a new and more flexible subsidy system, and that leaving the European Union would allow it to support domestic priorities like building green industry. The new system, which has previously been outlined by ministers, will be set out in legislation for the first time later on Wednesday. "When people ask 'what are the bene...

Traffickers seen targeting EU citizens in UK as post-Brexit deadline looms

29th June 2021

Human traffickers will target and exploit vulnerable European Union (EU) citizens in Britain who fail to meet a deadline to apply for post-Brexit residency rights, campaigners said as they warned tens of thousands would miss this week's cut-off date. EU citizens who miss the June 30 deadline are set to lose the right to work and receive benefits, and activists and lawyers fear that uncertainty...

Britain expects agreement soon to ease EU ‘sausage row’

29th June 2021

LONDON, June 29 (Reuters) - Britain expects to reach agreement soon with the European Union on extending exemptions on customs checks on chilled meat shipments to Northern Ireland, a spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday, easing the so-called post-Brexit "sausage row". Britain has called for the extension to allow more time for the two sides to find a long-term solution to...

Bonus cap holding back Dutch Brexit job gains -study

25th June 2021

A Dutch law capping financial sector bonuses at 20% of salary is keeping firms from locating staff in the Netherlands, a study on Brexit’s impact on European financial markets on Friday said. Think-tank Amsterdam Capital estimated that in the wake of Britain’s decision to leave the European Union some 43% of British financial services firms had moved some operations to the EU, representing...

Brexit: five years after the referendum, here are five things we’ve learned

23rd June 2021

On June 23 2016 the UK went to the polls to decide the future of the country’s EU membership. The vote to leave the EU – decided by a slim but definite majority of 51.9% to 48.1% – ushered in major constitutional, social, economic and political upheavals, as the country sought to define exactly what Brexit would mean. Five years later, here’s what we’ve learned. The day after the ref...

UPDATED: EU to grant UK ‘grace period’ extension in N.Ireland sausage spat

23rd June 2021

European Union member states have informally agreed to grant Britain a three-month extension to one of the contentious aspects of the post-Brexit Northern Ireland protocol, Irish national broadcaster RTE reported on Wednesday. Britain asked Brussels for the extra time last week to resolve a dispute over whether chilled meat products such as sausages, produced in the mainland United Kin...

Cut red tape boldly after Brexit, UK lawmakers’ report urges

19th June 2021

Trialling a digital pound, encouraging driverless cars and building on COVID vaccine success by cutting red tape would boost Britain's growth after Brexit, a report commissioned by Prime Minister Boris Johnson recommended. The report, produced by a taskforce of Conservative lawmakers, chaired by pro-Brexit lawmaker Iain Duncan Smith, set out a "bold new UK regulatory framework", and reform...

UK High Commissioner urges Brits in Malta to apply for residency by 30 June

16th June 2021

UK High Commissioner to Malta Cathy Ward today warned UK Nationals that if they do not apply for residency in the next two weeks, they risk losing the right to live in Malta. The deadline for submitting an application for a new Withdrawal Agreement residency card in Malta is 30 June 2021. More than 9,000 applications have been made since the Maltese launched the process in February 2020, but m...

Not much progress: Britain keeps all options open in EU N.Ireland row

16th June 2021

The historic U.S.-brokered 1998 Irish peace agreement has been put at risk by the implementation of the Brexit divorce deal in the British province of Northern Ireland, Prime Minister Boris Johnson's top Brexit negotiator said on Wednesday. The United States has expressed grave concern that a dispute between London and Brussels over the implementation of the 2020 Brexit treaty could undermine ...

Brexit drives up wages in the UK by ending free movement

14th June 2021

Staff are enjoying significantly higher salaries as Brexit, the pandemic and the furlough scheme cut competition for jobs - in an early sign that leaving the EU is benefitting lower-skilled workers in the UK. Data from recruitment firm Reed, first reported by The Sunday Times, has found that average salaries this year have risen by 18pc across hospitality and catering, 10pc in retail and 4...

Brexit tensions are a test for Europe, says French minister

14th June 2021

French European Affairs junior minister Clement Beaune said on Monday that current tensions over Brexit between British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government and the European Union were "a test" for Europe. The tensions between Britain and the EU threatened to overshadow the Group of Seven summit's conclusion on Sunday, with London accusing France of "offensive" remarks that Northern I...

Ex-EU Brexit negotiator Barnier: UK reputation at stake in Brexit row

14th June 2021

Michel Barnier, the European Union's former Brexit negotiator, said on Monday that the reputation of the United Kingdom was at stake regarding tensions over Brexit. EU politicians have accused British Prime Minister Boris Johnson of not respecting engagements made regarding Brexit. Growing tensions between Britain and the EU threatened to overshadow the Group of Seven summit on Sunday, with Lo...

France’s Macron spars with UK’s Johnson over Brexit geography

13th June 2021

French President Emmanuel Macron stepped into the Brexit maelstrom on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit by sparring with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson over the post-Brexit geography of the United Kingdom and France. Ever since the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union in 2016, the two sides have been trying to solve the riddle of what to do about the United Kingd...

Macron offers UK’s Johnson ‘Le reset’ if he keeps his Brexit word

13th June 2021

French President Emmanuel Macron offered to reset relations with Britain as long as Prime Minister Boris Johnson stands by the Brexit divorce deal he signed with the European Union. Since Britain completed its exit from the EU late last year, relations with the bloc and particularly France have soured, with Macron becoming the most vocal critic of London's refusal to honour the terms of p...

UPDATE – ‘Whatever it takes’, UK’s Johnson warns EU over post-Brexit trade

12th June 2021

Britain will do "whatever it takes" to protect its territorial integrity in a trade dispute with the European Union, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Saturday, threatening emergency measures if no solution was found. Since Britain completed its exit from the EU late last year, relations between the two have soured, with both accusing the other of acting in bad faith over part of their Brex...

Britain’s Raab says ball in EU’s court over N.Ireland issue

11th June 2021

Britain's foreign minister Dominic Raab said that it was up to the European Union to respond to the UK's proposals on resolving the Northern Irish trade issue. "The ball's very much in the EU's court," Raab told Sky News on Friday. "We've put forward proposals, it's up to the EU now to come forward with a way that delivers win win, rather than the divisive approach we've seen recently."...

EU to press UK’s Johnson to adhere to N.Ireland protocol

10th June 2021

EU institution leaders will tell British Prime Minister Boris Johnson at the G7 summit that Britain and the EU had both agreed the protocol governing Northern Ireland trade arrangements and that Britain must apply it and not make unilateral changes. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday that the protocol was the "one and only solution" to avoid a hard border on th...

UPDATED: UK urges EU to move on post-Brexit trade with N.Ireland

9th June 2021

Britain will tell the European Union on Wednesday time is running out to find solutions to ease post-Brexit trade with Northern Ireland, saying any further legal action by the bloc would not "make life any easier" for people in the province. Since completing its exit from the EU late last year, Britain's relations with it have soured, with both sides accusing each other of acting in bad fa...