On Thursday, UK came to a Brexit deal with the EU following 50 years, writing a new chapter, starting from next month, but will it be a "Bright Future" as predicted, or a "False Step."
Ever since the UK left the EU on 31 January, both sides have been talking about what the new rules should be. The negotiations went to the wire, as the current arrangement ends on 31 December.
After a very long process of negotiation, the Brexit deal was finally struck on Christmas Eve.
A British official stated it was like “negotiating in a 1970s car park.”
Press’s Response to the Brexit Deal
Mark Landler, the London bureau chief of The New York Times, reflected on how much UK and the world, had changed ever since the 2016 vote, as a narrow majority of people were “tempted by an argument that the country would prosper by throwing off the bureaucratic shackles of Brussels”, develop new industries and cut its own trade deals.
“The world is now dominated by three gargantuan economic blocs – the United States, China and the European Union,” Landler wrote. “Britain has finalized its porce from one of them, leaving it isolated at a time when the path forward seems more perilous than it once did.”
On his part, Linton Besser, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Europe correspondent, predicted prime minister Boris Johnson would be in a difficult situation if the deal did not work out.
“The prime minister will continue to trumpet the breakthrough for as long as it’s advantageous to do so,” wrote Besser. “Then, in the not-too-distant future, when electoral profit beckons, he and his allies will find a way, whatever rhetorical contortions are required, to condemn the EU all the same.
In the same vein, Chinese state media reports on Brexit were viewed more than 140m times on microblogging platform, Weibo, but they did not appear to publish any Chinese-language commentary.
Times of India reported the agreement left “critical parts of the relationship to be worked out later.”
WIO News reported the two parties had “finally agreed” on a deal, leading on reassuring comments by the EU’s Ursula von der Leyen, that the two sides would “stand shoulder to shoulder to deliver on our common global goals.”
Japan’s finance minister Taro Aso told reporters he welcomed the Brexit deal, as “it should be highly valued that a broad agreement was clinched between the two.”
What's in the Brexit Deal
The Brexit trade and security deal runs to 2,000 pages, including annexes, so here are some of the main agreements.
- Tariff-free and quota-free access to one of the world’s biggest markets is considered the main solid base of the deal, going beyond the EU’s deals with Canada or Japan.
- Regarding trade, there will be mutual recognition of trusted trader programmes, meaning that UK producers shall comply with both UK and EU standards.
- Automatic recognition for doctors, nurses, architects, dentists, pharmacists, vets, and engineers is not going to be allowed. They will have to seek recognition in the member state, in which they desire to practice.
- Visas will be required for stays over 90 days, as UK nationals no longer have the freedom to work, study, start a business or live in the EU. Moreover, coordination of some social security benefits such as old-age pensions and healthcare will make it easier to work abroad and not lose any pre-existing buildup of contributions to national insurance.
- The UK will leave the common fisheries policy.
How Did Business Respond to the Brexit Deal?
“We congratulate David Frost, Michel Barnier and their teams for this landmark achievement, and we praise the courage of our political leaders in reaching a deal,” CBI Director-General Tony Danker said.
“This will come as a huge relief to British business at a time when resilience is at an all-time low,” Danker added. “But coming so late in the day it is vital that both sides take instant steps to keep trade moving and services flowing while firms adjust.”
On his part, David Lonsdale, Director of the Scottish Retail Consortium, affirmed that “The securing of a tariff-free trade agreement between the UK and EU is positive news.”
“It will protect Scottish consumers from hundreds of millions of pounds of import tariffs on everyday goods, and help retailers to keep down prices at a time when the economy is under enormous pressure,” Lonsdale asserted. “Given that four-fifths of food imports come from the EU, this announcement should afford Scots households a collective sigh of relief.”
“While firms will welcome the agreement of a new foundation for UK-EU trade, they are now faced with the gargantuan task of adapting to new arrangements with scarcely a week before they take effect,” British Chambers of Commerce Director General Adam Marshall stated.
UK Leaves the European Union
UK has officially left the European Union, 31 Jan, after 47 years of membership, in addition to more than three years after it voted to do so in a referendum; however, it adhered to the rules during the transitional period that ends on December 31.
Johnson has vowed to bring the country together and "take us forward."
“For many people this is an astonishing moment of hope, a moment they thought would never come,” the prime minister said in a message, released on social media an hour before the UK's departure. “And there are many of course who feel a sense of anxiety and loss.”
Negotiations with the EU have been proceeding for several months, as UK wanted as much access as possible for its goods and services to the EU. Nonetheless, the government has clarified that the UK must leave the customs union and single market, as well as ending the overall jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice.
They said that there were still significant areas of disagreement, such as, EU proposals for a so-called "level playing field", which would make the UK and EU maintain similar minimum standards on issues like workers' rights and environmental protection.
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