CDE NewsBrexit 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 warns decision on UK financial services won’t come before January 1

27th November 2020

European Union assessments of whether to grant market access for UK banks and other financial firms will not be completed in time for January, sources in the bloc said on Thursday as the estranged allies make a final push for a free trade deal. Britain's unfettered access to the EU market under post-Brexit transition arrangements ends on Dec. 31, leaving the City of London faced with being cut...

Airlines expect to avoid Brexit disruption as transition ends

26th November 2020

Airlines are hopeful that Brexit-related disruption can be avoided, as Britain and the European Union continue negotiations on their future relationship after the Dec. 31 end of the transition period, the sector's main global body said. "We see positive trends in terms of an agreement," said Rafael Schvartzman, vice-president for Europe at the International Air Transport Association (IATA). "I...

Time running out to find Brexit agreement on Gibraltar, Spanish foreign minister says

26th November 2020

Time is running out to find a Brexit agreement between Spain and Britain over Gibraltar, Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya said on Thursday. "Talks between Spain and the United Kingdom over Gibraltar continue, but there too time is running out," she told radio station RNE. "We won't stop until the last second, but we expect in this game the active participation of the Uni...

UK says on Brexit trade deal: We can get there but not at any cost

26th November 2020

Britain and the European Union can clinch a Brexit trade deal and the shape of one is clear but London will not sign up to an accord at any cost, Prime Minister Boris Johnson's finance minister said on Thursday. With just five weeks left until the United Kingdom finally exits the EU's orbit, both sides are trying to reach a trade deal that would avoid a tumultuous finale to the five-year Brexi...

Failure to get Brexit trade deal would wipe extra 2% off UK output – OBR

26th November 2020

Failure by Britain and the European Union to agree a free trade deal would wipe an extra 2% off the United Kingdom's economic output while driving up inflation, unemployment and public borrowing, official forecasts showed. The Office for Budget Responsibility revisited its Brexit forecasts after deciding the prospect of a "no deal" exit remained a risk, just over five weeks before Britain full...

Irish PM says “good result” in UK trade talks possible, EU chief says ready for no-deal

26th November 2020

Ireland's prime minister said there was still time for a "good result" in trade talks between Britain and the European Union, though the bloc's chief executive said the risk of a no-deal split on Dec. 31 remained. The European Commission head, Ursula von der Leyen, said the bloc was ready for the possibility of Britain leaving the EU without a new trade accord despite "genuine progress" in the...

France accuses UK of dragging its feet in Brexit talks

25th November 2020

France's foreign minister accused Britain on Wednesday of "dragging its feet" in last-ditch Brexit negotiations and said Paris would not yield on the issue of fisheries, one of three key issues blocking a deal. Britain and the EU are in a last-ditch effort to agree terms to keep trade flowing without tariffs or quotas from the start of 2021, after London's current standstill transition out of ...

No-deal Brexit could disrupt medicines and vaccine delivery, industry warns

25th November 2020

Supplies of crucial medicines including potential COVID-19 vaccines could be disrupted if the government fails to reach a Brexit deal for the pharmaceutical sector, industry leaders have told Sky News. The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) warns that additional cost, red-tape and possible delays could follow a no-deal Brexit, or even a thin agreement that fails to addre...

Biden says UK border with Ireland must be open

25th November 2020

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden said on Tuesday he did not want to see a guarded border between Ireland and the United Kingdom, adding that he had previously discussed the matter with the British and Irish prime ministers and other European leaders. Biden had stressed the importance of protecting Northern Ireland's peace deal in the Brexit process in a call with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson ...

UK-EU trade deal would avoid years of acrimony, says funds industry

24th November 2020

A trade deal between Britain and the European Union would help open the door to cross-border financial services from January and avoid years of acrimony, industry officials said on Monday. Financial services are not part of talks that continue this week in a bid to conclude a free trade agreement (FTA) before Britain's access to the bloc under transition arrangements ends next month. "It's ...

Discussion needed on Malta’s future relationship with UK, argues Minister

24th November 2020

Brexit was the key item on the agenda of the latest meeting of the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development (MCESD), which met on Monday in the presence of Minister within the Office of Prime Minister Carmelo Abela and Parliamentary Secretary for European Funds Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi. In his intervention on Brexit, Minister Carmelo Abela pointed out that at this stage the negotiation...

Brexit and the City of London: what changes and when

23rd November 2020

Britain, which left the European Union in January, loses full access to the bloc under transition arrangements that end at 2300 GMT on Dec. 31. The EU is Britain's biggest financial services customer, worth about 30 billion pounds ($40 billion) a year. The relationship has helped keep London one of the world's biggest financial centres and a contributor to British tax revenues. Britain and ...

EU’s Barnier says “fundamental differences” persist in UK trade talks

23rd November 2020

The European Union's Brexit negotiator said on Monday that big differences persisted in trade talks with Britain but that both sides were pushing hard for a deal. "Time is short. Fundamental divergences still remain, but we are continuing to work hard for a deal," said the EU negotiator, Michel Barnier. Trade negotiators resumed talks on the shape of the new EU-UK relationship after a post-...

Focus on fish and economic fair play as EU-UK trade talks go on remotely

23rd November 2020

British and European Union negotiators on Monday resumed talks on their post-Brexit relationship via video-conferencing, with the focus still squarely on dividing up fishing quotas and ensuring fair competition for companies, including on state aid. Face-to-face talks, suspended last week after a member of the EU delegation tested positive for the coronavirus, will resume in London "when it is...

Britain’s PM expected to speak to European Commission head this week on Brexit

23rd November 2020

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to speak to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen this week in a bid to clear the final barriers to a Brexit deal, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. Johnson is preparing to make an intervention in the Brexit deal talks this week as both sides try to secure a deal before the deadline, the Telegraph said. Photo: (FILE) - Britain's...

Britain wants to strike a free-trade deal with the European Union

22nd November 2020

Britain wants to strike a free-trade deal with the European Union, but the short-term impact of not doing so will be overshadowed by the COVID-19 pandemic, British Finance Minister Rishi Sunak told the BBC's Andrew Marr programme on Sunday. Asked what the effect of not have a free-trade deal in place after the transition period ends on Dec. 31. Sunak said: "It's very difficult to be precise...

Britain and Canada agree post-Brexit rollover trade deal

22nd November 2020

Britain and Canada struck a rollover trade deal on Saturday to protect the flow of $27 billion-worth of goods and services between them after Brexit, and vowed to start talks on a bespoke agreement next year. As Britain prepares to end its transition out of the European Union on Dec. 31, it has negotiated multiple rollover bilateral deals to maintain trade, with many simply replacing the terms...

Brexit progress registered but still not enough

21st November 2020

The European Union and Britain have made better progress towards a trade deal in the last few days but there is still a lot of work to do for an agreement to be in place by the end-year deadline, the bloc's chief executive said on Friday. Diplomats briefed earlier by the EU's executive, which is negotiating with Britain on behalf of the 27 member states, said Brussels and London remained at od...

EU leaders set to demand Brexit no-deal plans be published

19th November 2020

Europe's leaders are set to demand that the European Commission publish no-deal plans amid fears that Brexit negotiations are dragging, leaving businesses with little knowledge on what they need to prepare in a worst-case scenario, the Times reported. "We must now come up with contingency measures. January 1, 2021 is getting close; we need a safety net," a senior EU diplomat told The Times on ...

Pandemic no excuse for UK banks not to move staff to Europe, says ECB

18th November 2020

UK-based banks looking to continue doing business in the euro zone after the Brexit transition period must move staff to the continent and not use the pandemic as an excuse to avoid relocations, the European Central Bank (ECB) said on Wednesday. The ECB, which supervises the euro zone's biggest banks, said that lenders operating in the bloc must move sufficient capital, staff and management ex...

UPDATED: EU trade negotiators to update member states on Brexit on Friday

18th November 2020

EU negotiators are due to update envoys of the bloc's 27 member states on the latest in trade talks with Britain at 0700 GMT on Friday, two diplomatic sources told Reuters on Wednesday. Brexit update has been added to the agenda of EU Brussels ambassadors meeting but the sources said the negotiating team of Michel Barnier could still cancel the closed-door briefing depending on how talks with ...

Britain and U.S. sign aviation deal for post-Brexit flights

17th November 2020

Britain and the United States have signed a deal for the continuation of flights between the two countries as the UK prepares for the end of its transition period with the European Union. The deal, called the Air Services Agreement, was reached in November 2018, and signed on Tuesday by UK transport minister Grant Shapps after being signed last week by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and U...

Time is running out for Brexit deal, EU tells Britain

17th November 2020

European Union diplomats warned Britain on Monday that time was fast running out for a Brexit deal, and that it may already be too late to ratify one, as negotiators in Brussels began a last-ditch attempt to avoid a tumultuous exit at the end of December. Almost five years since the Brexit referendum campaign began, Britain and the EU have still not worked out how nearly $1 trillion in trade p...

Small UK manufacturers left in dark over Brexit plans

16th November 2020

Nearly half of small and medium-sized British manufacturers have no idea how the end of the Brexit transition period at the end of this year will affect their business, a survey showed on Monday. Less than seven weeks before a transition period ends and Britain completes its Brexit journey out of bloc, London and Brussels have stepped up negotiations for a deal that would protect nearly 1 tril...

Britain warned on choices to make while UK PM Johnson “confident we will prosper” without EU trade deal

16th November 2020

Britain "has choices to make" if it wants a new trade deal with the European Union, three diplomatic sources with the bloc said on Monday, adding Brexit negotiators have yet to come up with mutually acceptable solutions for the three most contentious issues. Ireland, the EU member states most exposed to Brexit, said on Monday London and the bloc had up to 10 days to unlock trade talks to avoid...

Ireland warns real trouble if no Brexit breakthrough in 10 days

16th November 2020

Trade talks between Britain and the European Union will be in real trouble if there is not a major breakthrough over the next week to 10 days, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said on Monday. "We really are in the last week to ten days of this, if there is not a major breakthrough over the next week to 10 days then I think we really are in trouble and the focus will shift to preparing for ...

As Brexit talks resume, UK says: our red lines remain unchanged

16th November 2020

As Brexit talks resumed in Brussels, Britain said on Monday its red lines remained unchanged but that it hoped to reach a trade deal with the European Union if the bloc chose to make progress. The United Kingdom left the EU in January but the sides are trying to clinch a deal that would govern nearly 1 trillion dollars in annual trade before transitional arrangements end on Dec. 31. "Our re...

UPDATED: Brexit talks must have breakthrough this week – UK and Ireland

15th November 2020

There has to be a breakthrough this week in talks for a post-Brexit trade agreement, British and Irish ministers said on Sunday, ahead of the Dec. 31 expiry of Britain's transition period for leaving the European Union. Without a deal, around $1 trillion worth of trade is at risk of disruption from import tariffs and tougher rules, just as Britain and the EU are struggling to contain the econo...

Trading partners seek post-Brexit clarity at WTO

14th November 2020

Missing deadlines has become a tradition in EU-U.K. negotiations. But this time, Brussels is getting increasingly nervous about the ticking clock. Brexit talks are set to stretch into next week after insufficient progress was made in negotiations in London this week, thereby passing the deadline of mid-November. Officials expect talks to continue Friday, pause over the weekend and then resume ...

BrexitLink: “We’ll help you help yourself”: – Glenn Micallef

14th November 2020

European Union Co-ordination Department Director General and Head of Brexit Unit Glenn Micallef speaks to Keith Zahra As the end of the transition formalising Britian's withdrawal from the European Union edges closer, negotiators in Brussels and London continue to bicker on anything from fisheries to state aid, with both sides signalling that they want to reach a deal but giving little concess...

No Brexit delays for UK vaccine imports, minister says

13th November 2020

Britain's transport minister said there would be no delays to the country receiving the COVID-19 vaccine from abroad even if the UK does not agree a trade deal with the European Union by the start of 2021. "Yes I can rule that out," Transport Minister Grant Shapps said on Friday, when asked if the vaccine could be delayed due to customs checks or other difficulties, once the UK's transition pe...

British retailers could shun N.Ireland after Brexit, logistics groups warn

13th November 2020

British retailers and manufacturers could stop selling in Northern Ireland once the UK has finally left the European Union due to "overwhelming" customs demands and lack of border preparedness, industry officials said. In order to secure a Brexit divorce deal, London agreed that the province would remain in the UK customs territory but maintain customs and regulatory alignment with the EU to p...

BoE’s Bailey hopes for ‘goodwill’ after Brexit transition ends

13th November 2020

Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said he hoped a spirit of goodwill would prevail between Britain and European Union countries to smooth over inevitable trade disruptions when a post-Brexit transition period ends on Jan. 1. Last week the BoE said many smaller British companies appeared unready for the reintroduction of customs checks in under seven weeks' time, and estimated that border ...

Malta’s Government & Chamber urge people and businesses to prepare for all scenarios of Brexit

12th November 2020

Government and business leaders are urging people and businesses to prepare for all possible scenarios, in consideration that Brexit will impact all sectors. In a press event organised this afternoon, Parliamentary Secretary Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi urged UK nationals to register for a 10-year residency card. They have until June 2021 to apply for it. In the same manner, Maltese people living ...

Irish PM says on Brexit: Biden wants a deal so Johnson should knuckle down

12th November 2020

Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin said on Thursday that U.S. President-elect Joe Biden wanted a Brexit trade deal to be clinched with the European Union so British Prime Minister Boris Johnson should knuckle down and strike an agreement. "He is very committed to the Good Friday Agreement," Martin said of Biden. "Particularly in relation to Brexit, he would favour obviously a deal between the...

Ireland sees EU-UK trade talks going past mid-November deadline

12th November 2020

An EU-UK trade pact is unlikely to come together this week and negotiations might go into the next, an Irish minister said, confirming a Reuters report that the sides were now set to miss their mid-November deadline for a new Brexit deal. Britain left the bloc in January. A status quo transition period expires at the end of the year, and talks on trade rules that would apply from the start of ...

Johnson: Call with Biden was a return to traditional UK-U.S. relations

11th November 2020

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson described his phone call with U.S. President-elect Joe Biden as a return to traditional issues in relations between Britain and the United States. "It was a kind of return to the kind of business that we're used to doing together: sticking up for democracy around the world, human rights, free trade, NATO, our joint security, the transatlantic alliance ... a...

Biden delivers Brexit warning to PM Johnson in post-election call – FT

11th November 2020

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden, has delivered a warning to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in a post-election call, not to let Brexit destabilise the Northern Ireland peace process, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday. Johnson and Biden spoke about the importance of implementing Brexit in such a way that upholds the Good Friday Agreement, the newspaper reported, citing one Briti...

Britain pursues Brexit finance plan, door open to EU firms

10th November 2020

Britain left the door open for European Union financial firms to operate in Britain after a post-Brexit transition period ends on Dec. 31, pledging on Monday to help "renew" the City of London's pre-eminence in global finance. Finance minister Rishi Sunak said he was no longer waiting for Brussels to decide on access to its markets in return and castigated the EU for holding out on a deal key ...

Boris Johnson defeated in parliament on treaty-breaking Brexit laws

10th November 2020

Prime Minister Boris Johnson suffered a heavy defeat in parliament's upper chamber on Monday over proposed laws which would allow him to breach Britain's EU exit treaty - a plan that has been criticised by U.S. president elect Joe Biden. The Internal Market Bill is designed to protect trade between Britain's four nations after Brexit. It contains clauses ministers say are needed to protec...