Five years after the British vote: the Brexit trade pact is now officially in force


Five years after the British vote
Brexit trade pact is now officially in force

It has already been applied, but the EU’s trade pact with Great Britain will only come into force on May 1st today. The EU Parliament had previously ratified it. Nevertheless, there is no sunshine between the two sides – the Northern Ireland question continues to cause controversy.

The European Union’s Brexit trade pact with Great Britain came into force at the turn of the month. Almost five years after the British decided to leave the EU, the legal basis for the new relationship between the two sides is finally in place. In practice, hardly anything changes, because the contract has already been applied provisionally since the beginning of the year. Both sides agreed on the TCA trade and partnership agreement on Christmas Eve 2020 – just one week before Great Britain left the EU internal market and the customs union. It was ratified quickly in London, but the EU Parliament did not have the time. The MPs only approved the contract this week, with a very large majority.

The most important point of the contract, which is more than 1000 pages long, is generally duty-free and unlimited trade in goods in both directions. However, there are still customs formalities and controls. Fishing as well as cooperation on energy, transport, justice, police and many other topics are also regulated.

In June 2016, British voters voted in a referendum to leave the EU. This was formally completed on January 31, 2020, but a transition period ran until December 31, 2020, during which Great Britain remained in the internal market and in the customs union. Deep changes in everyday life did not come until January 1, 2021. Among other things, trade collapsed drastically at the beginning of the year. This week both sides reaffirmed the hope of a new beginning of their partnership. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke of a new “relationship with the EU as important trading partners, close allies and sovereign equals”. EU Council President Charles Michel called the UK an important friend and partner.

Dispute over Astrazeneca and Northern Ireland

However, relationships are strained. So there was recently a bitter dispute about Astrazeneca’s corona vaccine. In addition, the EU accused Great Britain of breaching the treaty because special rules for Northern Ireland were not implemented in the withdrawal agreement that was already in force. Unlike in the rest of the United Kingdom, the rules of the EU internal market and the customs union continue to apply there. This should make border controls to the EU member Ireland in the south of the island unnecessary. But now a goods border separates Northern Ireland from the rest of the United Kingdom, which led to friction losses and delivery problems.

Above all, the majority Protestant supporters of the Union with Great Britain are dissatisfied. In the past few weeks there have been conflicts with predominantly Catholic supporters of an Irish association and riots in the former unrest province. Brussels and London are negotiating details of the special rules to defuse the conflict, but so far without a concrete solution.

Pressure from its own party this week forced the Northern Irish Prime Minister Arlene Foster of the Protestant-loyalist DUP to announce her resignation. The succession is being watched with excitement. The Northern Irish government is always made up of the two strongest parties from both denominational camps. The two party leaders are considered to be an equal leadership duo of the government. Vice-head of government is currently Michelle O’Neill of the Catholic-Republican Sinn Fein.

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