"Wasting Valuable Time"

 
 
 

Good afternoon,

This week the EU accused the UK of wasting time during the negotiations of the future relationship. The UK’s ambassador to the EU is to move positions which creates a vacancy and we look at how the replacement might signal Johnson’s intentions with the future relationship post-Brexit. As usual we have some recommended reading for you. 

Enjoy 
Jacob

PLAY

In Politics

Trade Talks Are Going Poorly

  • The EU accuse the UK of wasting time in negotiations

  • There is still no agreement on the level playing field or fisheries

  • Time is running out for an agreement

Is the UK wasting time? Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, has accused the UK of wasting time in the negotiations for a trade deal between the UK and the EU. Last week saw the conclusion of the seventh round of trade talks. In a press conference afterwards, as the Financial Times reports, Barnier said “Too often this week it felt as if we were going backwards more than forwards” and “I simply do not understand why we are wasting valuable time.” 

David Frost, the UK chief negotiator, however disagrees and in a statement Frost places the blame on the EU for slow progress “The EU is still insisting not only that we must accept continuity with EU state aid and fisheries policy, but also that this must be agreed before any further substantive work can be done in any other area of the negotiation, including on legal texts. This makes it unnecessarily difficult to make progress”

Once again the core issue comes down to the disagreement on fisheries and level playing field, which includes the rules on state aid. The UK wants to move past these areas and negotiate the legal text of the potential deal before agreeing to rules surrounding these two core issues. For the EU it is crucial that these are agreed to first before a text can be agreed, because in Barnier’s view “no international agreement was ever reached without the parties agreeing to common rules”. 

The UK does not like the proposals on the level playing field and fisheries as they see them as continuations of the current system under EU membership.They see this as limiting the UK’s freedom to decide rules when it leaves the transition period at the end of this year. According to Frost “We are seeking a relationship which ensures we regain sovereign control of our own laws, borders, and waters” which is why the UK is not happy with the EU’s proposals.

This means that the EU and the UK are no closer to agreeing a deal and are effectively in the same place as the beginning of summer. As we have said before, the actual deadline for agreeing a deal isn’t at the end of December. The more important date to keep your eyes on is  the 31st October 2020. The EU will need to ratify this deal, having the EU parliament approve it, and potentially need EU members national parliaments to ratify it too depending on what is in the final deal. The Institute for Government has a useful explainer of the process. Crucially this is something that takes time and cannot be done in a mad rush before midnight like the Withdrawal Agreement last year. 

This means there is effectively only two months for the two sides to agree on something otherwise this leaves the UK facing leaving the transition period without an agreement on the future relationship between the EU and the UK putting the UK firmly in no-deal territory. This week Germany took Brexit off the agenda of a high level diplomatic meeting because there hasn’t been “any tangible progress” and EU officials now believe that the UK will risk a no-deal scenario. 

If the UK is headed towards a no-deal scenario businesses, among many, will need to prepare but this week industry bosses have been warning that Covid-19 means they can’t. As the Evening Standard reports, the chief executive of ADS, which represents 1100 UK businesses, said “the [coronavirus] crisis has put severe pressure on cashflow, restricting their ability to rebuild the stockpiles that were their primary mitigation measure” and went on to say “A no-deal Brexit would cause industry in the UK and Europe further damage”.

This is not the only body to warn about businesses inability to prepare. The Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) have warned that businesses “have got the double whammy of Covid-19, while also stocking up for Christmas and potentially for Brexit”.

A no-deal scenario in December can be avoided if compromise is achieved between the two sides however at the moment neither the EU, UK business, or even the UK Government are sounding positive that a deal will be reached. 

In Policy

Ambassador Reshuffle

  • The UK’s ambassador to the EU is to move to the new Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office leaving space for a new appointment

  • Institute for Government outline key challenges including rebuilding trust

  • Tony Abbott has been appointed as a Brexit trade advisor, giving indication as to what the PMs aims are

Tim Barrow, the UK’s ambassador to the EU has been moved and will become the political director of the new Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office next month. This is the department that is being created by the merger of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office with the Department for International Development. The new department will be headed up by Dominic Raab.

Barrow was appointed by May in 2017 as the Permanent Representative to the EU which became Ambassador to the EU when the UK left the EU this year. He has played a key role throughout the Brexit negotiations attending negotiations, and summits. He was the person tasked with delivering the letter from May triggering Article 50.  

This is however, a key role for EU / UK relations which extends beyond Brexit. Now is a crucial time and the Institute for Government has looked into what the next Ambassador needs to do.

The Institute for Government (IfG) outline that the UK ambassador must be a high ranking official in order to gain credibility in the EU, understand the EU as a whole project and not through the lens of Brexit, and finally rebuild trust between the EU and the UK.

The relationship between the UK and the EU will exist beyond the 31st December 2020 regardless of whether a trade deal is agreed. Whether it be on the world stage, or more local issues, the two sides will need to communicate and potentially work together. As outlined by the IfG the UK’s new Ambassador will “need to regain the EU’s trust and do so from the position of outsider - and as a country that has just left the club”. Afterall this is after long contentious negotiations where the EU has previously accused the UK of playing a “stupid blame game”.

It is important to keep an eye out for who the UK appoints to this position as they will have a key role in our future relationship and will go some way to shaping how it works. It will help signal what the UK’s priorities with the EU going forward are. This news of Barrow’s departure comes as the ex-Prime Minister of Australia Tony Abbott is widely reported to be in the process of being appointed as Johnson’s new Brexit trade advisor. He is to join the Board of Trade which was set up by Liam Fox, the then trade secretary, to provide advice every three months. However this body has not met since May 2019. Some reported he would become a joint president of the body but the UK high commission in Canberra reported this was premature.

According to Business Insider, the appointment of Abbott has left many bemused in both Australia and the UK. One former senior colleague of Abbott said “"He's a very much a political person. I suspect Boris wants is him to go out there and talk about how great Brexit is". However if this is an accurate assessment then it goes some way in showing the priorities of Johnson. In appointing Abbott, he wants someone who agrees with him that Brexit will be great and will go out and tell the world exactly that.

When the UK appoints a new Ambassador it will also show the UK’s intentions and this will help give many an insight into what the post-Brexit relationship looks like beyond the negotiations and trade.

In Events

The EU Settlement Scheme: Changes for the people of NI & their family members

9 September 11AM - 12PM

New changes in effect from 24 August mean that eligible family members of 'relevant' people from Northern Ireland will be able to apply for UK immigration status under the EU Settlement Scheme. Law Centre NI and CAJ are teaming up to provide you with detailed information on the changes, their impact, and the law and policy behind them. The webinar will be delivered by the Immigration Project Coordinator for CAJ, Úna Boyd, and Law Centre NI Immigration Legal Officer, Peter Lockhart.
Topics will include:
• Overview of the changes
• Detail on the law and policy behind the changes
• The application process
• Relevant deadlines
• Early trends and discussion
For more information and to sign up, see here.

Friends of the Earth and Liberty Judicial Review Roundtable

7 September 2020 at 10am

Friends of the Earth and Liberty would like to invite you to a roundtable exploring the threat from government proposals on Judicial Review and how we can respond to them.

In this webinar, we intend to briefly discuss the nature of the threat and how it could play out, best practice in terms of messaging and how to avoid the clear pitfalls and traps laid by the government, and some important next steps to ensure that Judicial Review remains safeguarded and able to hold the Government to account for unlawful decisions.

The webinar will take place on 7 September 2020 at 10am.
 
If you are able to attend, please RSVP on the Eventbrite page. Feel free to pass on this invite to anyone else who may be interested.
 
Speakers and further details to be announced in due course.
 
If you have any questions please contact rosemary.harris@foe.co.uk or nadiaOM@libertyhumanrights.org.uk. 

Brexit Civil Society Alliance Survey

The Brexit Civil Society Alliance in its current form will conclude in January 2021.
 
Since the formation of the Brexit Civil Society Alliance in 2017 (then the Repeal Bill Alliance) we have been working together with civil society organisations to protect rights and standards and advocate for transparent lawmaking that places limits on executive powers and respects the devolution settlements during the Brexit process. We have done this through facilitating information sharing, regularly convening civil society organisations, coordinate joint policy asks, responding to Brexit legislation and engaging with policy-makers.
 
We are currently exploring what the role and shape of a UK-wide civil society alliance post-2020 may look like. We are therefore seeking the views of our members and civil society organisations in our wider networks and would welcome your ideas and suggestions as part of this survey. It is available here.

BCSA UK Shared Prosperity Fund Evidence Gathering

We, the Brexit Civil Society Alliance, are asking organisations who have received EU funding, such as the European Social Fund, to get in touch and share their experience. The UK Shared Prosperity Fund is expected to be announced in the Comprehensive Spending Review this Autumn to replace the EU funding. 

We want to build a network of organisations affected to share experiences and information on the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

Please click here to share your experience and join us.

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