CDE NewsBrexit Link

EU/UK trade deal will fail if divorce treaty threatened, Ireland says

25th September 2020

Any final trade deal between the European Union and Britain will only be ratified if EU member states are fully certain the Brexit withdrawal agreement will be implemented in full, Irish Foreign Minister said on Thursday. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson plunged Brexit into chaos earlier thi...

France rejects UK ‘intimidation’ on post-Brexit deal

25th September 2020

France has dismissed this week's dire British warnings about post-Brexit transport delays across the Channel as tactical posturing, the Financial Times reported on Friday. "Of course, the signals that have been sent in the past few days are damaging," France's Europe minister Clément Beaune told...

Wealthy Britons step up citizenship shopping to thwart Brexit

25th September 2020

The number of British entrepreneurs looking to "buy" citizenship from countries offering visa-free access to the European Union has risen sharply, investment migration firms say, as prospects of a post-Brexit trade deal between Britain and the bloc darken. Investment immigration firm Astons said...

Most UK firms unprepared for end of Brexit transition: BCC

24th September 2020

A swathe of British businesses are unprepared for the end of the Brexit transition period at the turn of the year, a survey from the British Chambers of Commerce showed on Thursday. Some 51% of companies had not taken any steps recommended by the government to prepare for changes in the trade of...

JPMorgan to move $230 billion of assets to Germany ahead of Brexit

24th September 2020

JPMorgan Chase & Co is moving about 200 billion euros ($234 billion) of assets from the United Kingdom to Germany as a result of Britain's exit from the European Union, a source familiar with the matter said. In January, the bank had also announced it would significantly expand its Paris hub...

UK warns industry to prepare for Brexit or face chaos

24th September 2020

Britain told businesses on Wednesday to prepare for paperwork or face 100 km-long queues of trucks when the country fully leaves the EU next year, prompting accusations that the government was setting up industry to take blame for any chaos from a botched Brexit. Britain formally left the bloc i...

7,000 trucks could face two-day Brexit delays at Dover

23rd September 2020

The Daily Telegraph reports that up to 70% of trucks travelling to the European Union might not be ready for new post-Brexit border controls by January, according to a leaked letter from Michael Gove to trade groups. The Cabinet Secretary warned that in a “reasonable worst-case scenario”, q...

EU chief negotiator “determined” to get Brexit deal

23rd September 2020

EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier said on Wednesday he was determined to reach a deal with Britain, declining to comment on legislation that the British government says could breach parts of a divorce agreement signed earlier this year. Talks on a trade deal and future relationship have made li...

The European Commission would view Brexit legal remedies from end September

23rd September 2020

The European Commission will look into legal remedies at the end of the month if Britain does not adjust the parts of a domestic bill which breaches the Brexit divorce deal agreed last year, EU Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic said on Tuesday. Sefcovic, speaking after a meeting of Europe...

UK PM Johnson wins over rebels on Brexit treaty-busting powers

23rd September 2020

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday moved a step closer to getting parliamentary approval for new powers to break the Withdrawal Agreement struck with the European Union last year as lawmakers backed changes to the Internal Market Bill . The bill aims to ensure Britain's four nations...

Britain urged not to play games on Brexit

22nd September 2020

Germany's Europe Minister Michael Roth urged Britain on Tuesday to drop plans for a bill that would break the country's obligations to the European Union under its withdrawal treaty as time was running out to clinch an EU-Britain trade deal. Speaking to reporters ahead of a meeting of EU&nb...

No deal Brexit not appealing, but not excluded – Dombrovskis

22nd September 2020

The European Union and Britain need to accelerate talks on a future trade deal since it was impossible to rule out there being insufficient progress in the talks, leading to a no-deal outcome, European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said on Monday. “There are many outstanding issue...

Britain plans law to safeguard City of London’s global standing

21st September 2020

Britain plans to buttress the City of London's global competitiveness and openness once it moves outside the European Union with new financial services sector legislation. Although Britain left the EU in January, its unfettered access to the bloc for banks and other financial firms does not end ...

Amal Clooney resigns as UK’s special envoy in protest to Government’s Brexit “law-breaking” plan

19th September 2020

Amal Clooney, the famous human rights lawyer, resigned as the UK's special envoy on media freedom on Friday in protest at the Government's plan to break international law with the Internal Market Bill. Mrs Clooney, married to the film star George Clooney, wrote to Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secre...

Brexit’s next chapter: The UK’s next steps

18th September 2020

While Britain and the European Union resumed Brexit talks after recess with a degree of optimism, the past two weeks exposed deep divisions between the sides and at this point in time a wide-ranging agreement is less likely. While the EU keeps pushing for a decisive breakthrough, British Prime M...

Ursula Von der Leyen ‘convinced’ EU and UK can still reach trade deal

18th September 2020

The president of the European Commission on Thursday said she was convinced a trade deal with the UK was still possible despite the “distraction” caused by Boris Johnson’s move to violate the Brexit withdrawal treaty, The Financial Times reports. Ursula von der Leyen said Britain’s decision to ...

EU’s Barnier still hopes trade deal with Britain possible – sources

17th September 2020

The European Union's Brexit negotiator told the bloc's 27 national envoys to Brussels that he still hoped a trade deal with Britain was possible, stressing that the coming days would be decisive, diplomatic sources with the bloc told Reuters. Michel Barnier addressed the gathering on Wednesday a...

Brexit: Johnson not expecting tariff barriers between UK and EU

17th September 2020

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday if Britain were to set an external tariff regime with the European Union, it would be "quite formidable" for some of the bloc's products. Johnson said he did not expect the two sides to put in place tariff barriers and again...

Biden warns US trade deal hinges on UK ‘respect’ for Good Friday Agreement

17th September 2020

Joe Biden has said he will not allow peace in Northern Ireland to become a "casualty of Brexit" if he is elected US President in November. The Democratic candidate said any UK-US trade deal had to be "contingent" on respect for the Good Friday Agreement. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has bee...

UK government agrees to give parliament vote on any breach of Brexit divorce deal

17th September 2020

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday evening agreed a compromise with rebels in his party, giving parliament the final say on whether powers in a new bill that would breach the Brexit divorce deal can be used. A statement issued on behalf of the government and some lawmakers who had...