The post Why did French President Emmanuel Macron choose Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier as PM? first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Britain’s former Prime Minister Theresa May with then Number 10 Chief of Staff, Gavin Barwell on a visit to in Belfast, Northern Ireland (Photo: PAUL FAITH/AFP via Getty Images)

Gavin Barwell is angry.

You can hardly blame him, having been in the eye of the political storm of the century that was Brexit, and crashing out of it in failure alongside his former boss Theresa May.

Especially when he believes many of the arguments he, as Downing Street chief of staff, and the then-prime minister made at the time were now being proven right.

If only Boris Johnson, Tory backbenchers and Labour had listened to the former prime minister, we could have avoided the dangerous instability now being experienced in Northern Ireland, and even perhaps the humiliation in Afghanistan, Lord Barwell suggests.

The Tories may also have fared a better chance of avoiding the “demographic dead end” that is its Brexiteer, older electorate.

But ultimately, what he saw as a battle for compromise and realism in the raw political chaos between Mrs May’s snap election loss in 2017 and Mr. Johnson succeeding her as PM two years later, was lost.

They say that history is written by the victors but in his new book, Chief Of Staff: Notes from Downing Street (£20, Atlantic Books), the former housing minister and Croydon Central Tory MP attempts to give his side of the very bitter story of Mrs May’s doomed Brexit deal.

In an interview with i ahead of the book’s launch today, he describes opponents of the ill-starred withdrawal agreement as being like “Alice in Wonderland”, unable to grasp what the “actual real choices were” and proposing fantasy solutions.

The worst offender was Mr. Johnson, who pops up in the book time and time again to dismiss the thorny Northern Ireland problem that was and still is at the heart of the Brexit conundrum.

“The Northern Ireland issue is a gnat,” the current PM is quoted as telling Mrs May in one key meeting.

And while Mr. Johnson may have succeeded in replacing Mrs May and driving through a hard Brexit after agreeing to unique half-in-half out terms for Northern Ireland that his predecessor refused to countenance, the consequences are now clear with the well of EU relations poisoned, riots in Belfast and the potential collapse of the Northern Irish government.

“The Northern Ireland issue is the one that I am most angry about,” Lord Barwell says.

“Because [Mr. Johnson’s] deal is a very bad deal and it has led to all of the negative consequences Theresa predicted that it would, it’s why she fought tooth and nail to get a Northern Ireland-only arrangement out of the deal.”

Not only that, but our current PM was “incredibly difficult and challenging” to deal with when he served as Mrs May’s foreign secretary.

At one point, he veered dangerously close to sexism as he accused Mrs May of being “scared of the Treasury” as she tried to explain the consequences of trade barriers with the EU and the difficult position of Northern Ireland.

This was, Lord Barwell writes, “just about the worst thing he could have said to her”, especially as it held “the implication that, as a woman, she was easily scared”.

So is Mr. Johnson sexist?

“You’d have to ask her if she thought it was because she was a woman but she definitely took offence,” Lord Barwell says.

“I wouldn’t want to make a comment about his general attitude.”

This rude approach once even forced Lord Barwell to stop a meeting as Mr. Johnson was “constantly interrupting and not treating the prime minister with any respect”.

“In that particular meeting, it crossed a line.”

Lord Barwell also bemoans the current Prime Minister’s wider approach to Brexit, saying “it’s so sad and wrong” that the deal he agreed with Brussels junked the commitments Mrs May and the EU made to security coordination.

This would have helped a trading relationship that’s “not good and doesn’t look like it’s going to get better”.

And Lord Barwell suggests it even might have helped avoid the humiliation in Afghanistan, noting that the Government tried and failed at the last minute to stitch together a coalition to keep troops in Afghanistan after the US withdrawal.

“On foreign policy, on how we view Russia or China or Iran or climate change, the two sides remain very well aligned.”

He added: “It really would make sense if we were better coordinated.

“Not only would it maybe have helped in Afghanistan but I think over time, it will help with the trading relationship if we’ve got that other element (security) to (the deal) which is easier for both sides.”

Lord Barwell, author and former Downing Street Chief of Staff

Mr. Johnson’s pursuit of a hard Brexit and what Lord Barwell sees as divisive politics has also left the Tories in a potentially dangerous place, he argues.

The splintering of voters along Remain versus Leave and more starkly along old versus  young lines presents a “massive opportunity” for the party in the short and medium-term but “my question is where does it leave you long-term?”

“You could be driving yourself down a demographic dead end basically,” Lord Barwell says.

“And I think there is a significant risk that the party is running.”

He urges Mr. Johnson to return to the morning after his stunning 2019 election victory, where he spoke about forming “a One Nation government and trying to bring the country together”.

“That Boris Johnson I admire,” says Lord Barwell.

And if he’s learnt anything from one of the most fractious and polarized periods in modern British political history, it’s this: “I care less now about the colour of the rosette that someone wears and I care more about whether they are engaging with complexity and whether they are trying to bring people together or draw dividing lines to pull people apart.”

It is serious stuff about a serious time, but Lord Barwell isn’t totally averse to a joke.

When I ask him about the recent conversion of hardline EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier to the Eurosceptic cause, launching a French presidential bid with a call to be free from European court rulings in the same way Mrs May once sought, he quips: “It sounded a lot like cherry-picking to me.”

Source: https://inews.co.uk/news/boris-johnson-accused-theresa-may-of-being-scared-ex-no-10-chief-of-staff-reveals-inside-story-of-brexit-1201540?ITO=newsnow

The post ‘Boris Johnson accused Theresa May of being scared’: Ex-No 10 chief of staff reveals inside story of Brexit first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis told the House of Commons that the internal markets Bill to be published on Wednesday will see Britain reneging on its treaty commitment to the EU.

“This does break international law in a very specific and limited way. We’re taking the power to disapply the EU law concept of direct effect required by article 4 in certain very tightly defined circumstances,” he said.

“There are clear precedents for the UK, and indeed other countries, needing to consider their international obligations as circumstances change.”

The internal markets Bill to be introduced on Wednesday and a finance Bill planned for later this year will give British ministers the power to decide which goods moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland are at risk of proceeding into the EU single market and whether goods moving in the other direction should require an export declaration. The legislation will also limit the scope of EU state aid rules to ensure they do not have an impact on the UK beyond Northern Ireland.

Condemn

The British government’s chief legal adviser, Jonathan Jones, resigned in protest against the move and former prime minister Theresa May was among a number of Conservative MPs to condemn it.

“The United Kingdom government signed the withdrawal agreement with the Northern Ireland protocol. This parliament voted that withdrawal agreement into UK legislation. The government are now changing the operation of that agreement,” she said.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney told the Dáil that any unilateral departure by from the terms of the withdrawal agreement could seriously erode and damage political trust not only in the negotiations but within Northern Ireland at a time of extreme sensitivity.

“While we still await publication of the legislation, earlier this week we raised media reports and briefings on this issue with the UK through diplomatic and official channels. We expressed our concern at these reports. My concerns have been exacerbated by the additional comments deliberately made in the House of Commons today openly committing the UK government to break international law,” he said.

British and EU negotiators began an eighth round of negotiations about their future relationship in London on Tuesday, with both sides warning that time was running out.

Deeply worried

President of the European Parliament David Sassoli said after a meeting with the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, that he was deeply worried at the lack of progress in the talks.

“We fully expect the United Kingdom to honour the responsibilities that it negotiated and signed up to last year, especially in regard to the rights of citizens and Northern Ireland,” Mr Sassoli said.

“Any attempt by the United Kingdom to undermine the agreement would naturally have serious consequences.”

Sinn Féin MP Chris Hazzard said the British government had shown a disregard for the North and now appeared to be set to remove the only safety net under Brexit by undermining and hollowing out the protocol.

“The withdrawal agreement is an international agreement and it must be maintained and protected in order to protect our economy and our peace agreements.”

But DUP MP Sammy Wilson said he was pleased that the British government was open to changes to the protocol, adding “we will judge the legislation on its impact rather than the headlines and speculation”.

Source: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/brexit/brexit-trade-deal-hopes-fade-as-britain-plans-to-renege-on-agreement-with-eu-1.4350115

The post Brexit trade deal hopes fade as Britain plans to renege on agreement with EU first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

According to The Guardian, Germany — which holds the rotating presidency of the EU council — had intended to discuss Britain’s departure at a September 2 meeting of ambassadors.

But the issue is said to have been removed from the agenda after weeks of talks in which the two sides remained deadlocked on a host of issues.

An EU diplomat told the title: “Since there hasn’t been any tangible progress in EU-UK negotiations, the Brexit item was taken off the agenda.”

The move follows downbeat statements last Friday from both the EU and UK chief negotiators after the latest round of negotiations.

Michel Barnier, the bloc’s Brexit lead, said a post-Brexit trade deal “seems unlikely”, and said he was “disappointed” at the state of the talks.

On the UK side, David Frost said the EU had made it “unnecessarily difficult” to make progress and called for movement on a host of issues before “substantive work can be done in any other area of the negotiation, including on legal texts”.

The UK is pushing for any agreement to respect its regulatory autonomy and status as an independent coastal state now it has left the EU.

But Brussels has been adamant that any deal cannot see Britain undercut its environmental and worker standards or state aid rules.

Failure to strike a deal, which the EU wants done by October, would leave the two sides trading on World Trade Organization terms, imposing a host of tariffs and quotas once the current transition period covering their relationship expires at the end of this year.

Source: https://www.politicshome.com/news/article/germany-ditches-plan-for-eu-brexit-talks-amid-concern-over-lack-of-progress

The post Germany ‘ditches plan for EU Brexit talks’ amid concern over lack of progress first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

A government spokeswoman said it ‘reflects a responsible government ensuring we are ready for all eventualities’

Emergency plans drawn up by the government to protect the UK if a second coronavirus spike coincides with a no-deal Brexit have been revealed.

A Cabinet Office “reasonable worst-case scenario” document, dated July 2020, has been leaked to The Sun newspaper.

A government spokeswoman said it “reflects a responsible government ensuring we are ready for all eventualities”.

There could be power and petrol shortages if thousands of lorries end up stranded in Dover. File pic

The dossier warns that the military could be required to airdrop food to the Channel Islands.

The navy may be required to stop British fishermen clashing with illegal European fishing boat incursions, the document adds.

There could be power and petrol shortages in parts of the UK if thousands of lorries end up stranded in Dover, it also warns.

In addition, the assessment says shortages of medicines due to port blockages could lead to animal diseases spreading through the countryside.

It also warns of the possibility of hospitals being overwhelmed, if trade restrictions sparked by a no-deal Brexit combine with floods, flu and a second wave of coronavirus.

The prospect of town halls going bust is mentioned, along with the possibility of deploying troops on the streets if there is public disorder.

The number of coronavirus cases and deaths where you live – and where the latest hotspots are

---

There are fears that the winter months could see a second wave of COVID-19 in the UK.

The latest available statistics show that more than 324,000 people have tested positive for the virus in the UK.

A total of 41,423 people have died in the UK within 28 days of testing positive for the disease.

Britain left the EU in January after 47 years of membership and is currently in an 11-month transition period, which means it is continuing to follow the bloc’s rules and regulations.

This time frame is being used to negotiate a free trade agreement and sort out the terms of the future relationship that will govern ties between the UK and the EU moving forward.

Listen to the Daily podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker

Both sides have said a deal needs to be agreed by October in order for it to be ratified in time, but so far there has been no breakthrough.

Speaking after the latest round of talks finished earlier this week, EU negotiator Michel Barnier said it felt “as if we were going backwards more than forwards”.

UK negotiator David Frost said that while the latest negotiations in Brussels had been “useful”, there had been “little progress”.

Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove said: “We got Brexit done with a great deal in January and we are working flat out to make sure the United Kingdom is ready for the changes and huge opportunities at the end of the year as we regain our political and economic independence for the first time in almost 50 years.

“Part of this work includes routine contingency planning for various scenarios that we do not think will happen, but we must be ready for come what may.

“Whether we trade with the EU on terms similar to Canada or to Australia, a brighter future awaits as we forge our own path.”

A government spokeswoman added that “intensive planning is under way to help ensure that businesses and citizens are ready to take advantage of the opportunities and changes” that leaving the bloc’s single market and customs union will bring.

She continued: “As a responsible government we continue to make extensive preparations for a wide range of scenarios, including the reasonable worst case.

“This is not a forecast or prediction of what will happen but rather a stretching scenario.

“It reflects a responsible government ensuring we are ready for all eventualities.”

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/revealed-emergency-plans-to-protect-uk-if-second-coronavirus-spike-coincides-with-no-deal-brexit-12055049

The post Revealed: Emergency plans to protect UK if second coronavirus spike coincides with no-deal Brexit first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Boris Johnson ruled out extending the Brexit transition period past December 2020 as he expressed his confidence a new commercial agreement with the European Union can be struck by December 2020. His commitment sparked political expert Richard Werly to warn Brussels could see the Prime Minister become “nasty” in order to secure a deal with the bloc within 12 months. Le Temps Paris correspondent told France 24: “I’m afraid that in 2020, as far as the European Union is concerned, we are going to discover a nasty Boris Johnson.

“Until now he was the buffoon or the populist but he is going to become nasty on the trade issue – it isn’t going to be easy for the EU to negotiate that trade deal.

“To tell the truth, the EU needs a trade deal as much as the UK. We’ve been told in 2019, with a large part of the truth, the UK was in a weaker position because a Brexit without an agreement would have been difficult for the British economy, now it’s a bit different.”

Mr. Werly also suggested EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier could see his attempts to keep the EU27 united through the second phase of Brexit talks collapse should member states begin to “calculate the benefits” of a close trade alliance with the UK.

The European Union maintained a united front through the first three years of talks with the British Government but some countries, including Ireland, have expressed concerns the bloc’s firm stance could have a serious impact on their national economies.

Boris Johnson insisted he will secure a trade deal with the EU by December 2020 (Image: NUMBER 10)

Mr. Werly continued: “With the British election in his favour, Boris Johnson can now come forward more forcefully and I’m afraid the unity there was in the 27 might be shaky during the coming months.

“At some point, different countries will take the calculator and start to see what are the benefits of having a good trade relationship with the UK and, when you start to calculate, the sense of unity may disappear.”

The Prime Minister’s latest Brexit bill rules out any extension to the transition period beyond the end of 2020, meaning London and Brussels will have just 11 months to broker a free trade agreement, which would typically be expected to take several years.

If no trade agreement is agreed by the end of the transition period and no extension is agreed, the UK may still face an effective no-deal Brexit when the transition ends.

Werly also suggested Michel Barnier could see the unity of the 27 crumble during Brexit trade talks (Image: FRANCE 24)

Michel Barnier maintained unity among the 27 for over three years (Image: GETTY)

Following the Conservatives’ success on December 12, Mr. Varadkar has been urged to lay out a timetable for an orderly dissolution of the Dail, Ireland’s Parliament.

Fianna Fáil leader Michael Martin urged Mr. Varadkar to do “the responsible thing and end the speculation and agree to a date for the dissolution of the Dail, a date for the holding of the election.”

The Dail is currently closed for a month-long recess before reconvening on January 15.

Relations between Mr. Martin’s group and Mr. Varadkar’s Fine Gael have hit rock bottom.

EU member states have expressed concerns over the risks a lack of no deal with the UK could have on their economies (Image: EXPRESS.CO.UK)

Ireland’s Taoiseach is said to be furious over Mr. Martin’s demands for an election and has refused to reply.

Instead, Mr. Varadkar has called for face-to-face talks with his opponent to be held either this week or after the Christmas holidays.

Government sources said the Irish leader had repeatedly asked Fianna Fáil to agree on an election date for next summer.

One source close to the Taoiseach hit back at the claims in the letter, saying it was “ironic” for the opposition to be “claiming the moral high ground”.

Source: https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1223033/EU-news-warning-Boris-Johnson-Brexit-trade-deal-withdrawal-agreement-UK-latest-news

The post EU panic as Boris Johnson to become ‘nasty’ with Brussels to secure Brexit trade deal first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

When and if Brexit is finally delivered, a vast array of questions will immediately spring up.

Britain’s prime minister told the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) on Monday that victory in the December 12th general election will allow him to “get Brexit done” and then swiftly broker an agreement with the EU on the two sides’ future relationship.

Noting the UK would embark on trade talks from a place of “perfect alignment and harmony” after leaving the EU on January 31st, he told business chiefs he saw “absolutely no reason” why an agreement could not be reached by the end of next year.

It is a line the Conservatives will stick to in their campaigning ahead of polling day as they warn victory for Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party would mean more “dither and drift” on Brexit. Mr. Corbyn claimed at the same conference that the Tories’ approach would “subject us to years of drawn-out, bogged down negotiations” with Brussels on a future relationship deal. He said his approach of holding a second referendum would deliver clarity sooner.

But as politicians spar over who is best placed to lead Britain out of its Brexit quagmire, top officials in Brussels believe the UK population faces a brutal reckoning for which it is ill-prepared. EU officials have been preparing for negotiations with the UK on the post-Brexit relationship for more than two years, and behind the scenes, many member states are urging them to take a very hard line indeed.

British prime minister Boris Johnson: ‘absolutely no reason’ why an agreement with the EU could not be reached by end of next year. Photograph: FRANK AUGSTEIN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

‘Worst thing’

“What is going to come is going to be much more challenging and demanding than what we have seen up to now,” says one senior EU diplomat. “I would not wish to negotiate a trade deal with the EU on anybody. It’s the worst thing that can happen to you, especially if your administration doesn’t have any experience negotiating trade issues.”

When and if Brexit is finally delivered, a vast array of questions will immediately spring up. The two sides will need to do their best to safeguard a trading relationship worth £650 billion (€758 billion) in 2018, as well as define the terms of co-operation on everything from air transport to fighting terrorism.

The talks will take place to the beat of a ticking clock. The UK’s post-Brexit transition period will expire at the end of 2020 unless Britain requests an extension by the middle of next year – something Mr. Johnson is loath to do.

Both Mr. Johnson and Phil Hogan, the EU’s incoming trade commissioner, have emphasized the two sides are not starting from scratch.

Mr. Hogan told RTÉ last week that Brussels would seek to kick off the negotiations swiftly, noting the UK’s 46 years of EU membership created a unique context: one where Britain is integrated into the European market and in sync with its rules.

“With a bit of goodwill on both sides we can do an agreement more quickly than we would do with any other negotiations around the world, which would take three or four years,” he said.

Mr. Johnson told the CBI the two sides would begin talks “in a state of grace as far as our tariffs and our quotas are concerned”.

“There is no other trade negotiation the EU has ever embarked upon with a third country where that has been the case,” he said.

Another advantage is Mr. Johnson and the EU have already agreed a 27-page political declaration setting out their shared vision of the future relationship. It forms part of the Brexit deal he struck with the bloc in October.

At the heart of the relationship would be a free-trade deal ensuring duty-free and quota-free access for goods, and providing market access for services at least similar to that granted in the EU’s recent trade deals with Canada and Japan. The declaration also covers other key areas of co-operation such as nuclear energy and joint military operations.

The City of London is preparing to lose the right to offer services across the EU

Highly sensitive issues

But EU diplomats warn that putting flesh on the bones of these plans will require a hard-fought negotiation and that the question of how far the UK is prepared to stick to EU rules will be one of several highly sensitive issues needing to be resolved.

Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, has already made clear Brussels will be guided in the talks by a simple principle: the further the UK aims to diverge from EU rules in Mr. Johnson’s avowed quest to boost the country’s economic competitiveness, the more restricted Britain’s access to the single market will be.

The EU argues it is being asked to grant Britain market access on goods going beyond any other trade deal the bloc has with a major economy, creating a clear risk of unfair competition for Europe’s companies. Such access will come at the price of sticking closely to EU law on workers rights, environmental standards, state aid, and other rules.

Britain, by contrast, argues a free-trade deal is a fundamentally looser economic relationship than membership of the EU’s single market and customs union, and that it would be hypocritical for Brussels to demand far more alignment than it has done in negotiations with other countries. Dominic Raab, the UK’s foreign secretary, said on Sunday that the country is “not going to align ourselves to EU rules”.

The post Brexit talks: the brutal reckoning that awaits the UK first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Mr. Lowe launched a scathing attack on the European Union as he condemned the bloc for being a “fig leaf of democracy”. He criticized the EU for being “ultimately run by the French and paid for by the Germans and us” and called on Boris Johnson to leave the bloc without a deal. The Brexit Party MEP also accused the bloc of “sacrificing Britain on the alter”.

Mr. Lowe said the EU has become a “federal European superstate”.

He told Express.co.uk: “As the proudest sovereign nation in Europe we have been sacrificed on the alter by this post-war European project.

“As a result of that, a lot of our constituents have suffered massively.”

“It is an absolute disaster and the worst outcome for all of us.”

He said that when he met with the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier last month, he told the EU leader: “I wouldn’t sign this treaty if I had just lost to you in a war.”

Mr. Lowe also hit out at Remainers for being “entirely democratic”.

He said: “The Remain camp are disregarding the votes of 17.4 million people.

The post ‘Britain’s been sacrificed!’ Brexit Party MEP launches ferocious attack on ‘EU superstate’ first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

The EU says much work still needs to be done on Brexit, despite agreeing a draft withdrawal document with the UK.

“We still have a long road ahead of us on both sides,” chief negotiator Michel Barnier said.

The EU has set out a series of meetings leading to one on 25 November where it plans to approve the Brexit agreement.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May has won the backing of her cabinet but faces a tough task getting the agreement approved by Parliament.

• LIVE: Follow the Brexit story
• Brexit: A guide to where we are
• Watch: What is Brexit?

A sign of that came on Thursday morning when Mr Barnier’s UK counterpart, Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab, resigned saying he could not “in good conscience” support the agreement. He was one of four ministers to quit.

Mrs May later defended the deal in the House of Commons, telling MPs it delivered on the Brexit referendum and provided for an orderly withdrawal.

What has the EU said and what happens next?

Mr Barnier was speaking on Thursday morning alongside EU Council head Donald Tusk as the chief negotiator formally handed over the 585-page draft withdrawal agreement.

Mr Barnier said the agreement was fair and balanced, took into account the UK’s needs and laid the ground for an “ambitious new partnership”.

Mr Tusk praised Mr Barnier’s work and said the agreement had “secured the interests of the 27 member states and EU as a whole”.

He laid out the timetable for the days ahead.

• EU member states will analyse the document and at the end of the week national envoys will share their assessments
• A political declaration on future ties between the EU and the UK will be agreed by Tuesday and members will have 48 hours to evaluate it
• The EU Council will then meet on 25 November to finalise the agreement “if nothing extraordinary happens”, Mr Tusk said. The leaders of the 27 EU nations must approve the deal

Mr Tusk said: “Since the very beginning, we have had no doubt that Brexit is a lose-lose situation, and that our negotiations are only about damage control.”

Addressing the UK, he added: “As much as I am sad to see you leave, I will do everything to make this farewell the least painful possible, for you and for us.”

• Pound dives after Brexit resignations

Mr Barnier later took the document to the European Parliament. Its president, Antonio Tajani, said MEPs would vote on the deal in early 2019.

If the agreement is approved by both sides, a 21-month transition period will kick in, during which a trade deal and the thorny issue of how to ensure there is no physical border between Northern Ireland – part of the UK – and the Republic of Ireland will need to be worked out.

A smooth border-free exchange underpins the peace deal that ended the Northern Ireland conflict.

The document from the EU side

The draft withdrawal agreement covers so-called “divorce” issues as the UK prepares to leave the EU. It includes a “financial settlement” from the UK, thought to be about £39bn (€45bn; $50bn).

Speaking at a press briefing in Brussels on Wednesday, Mr Barnier addressed one of the major concerns of the divorce, the Irish “hard border” issue.

He said that to avoid the need for physical checks on goods or infrastructure at the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, the EU would work with the UK to agree a trade deal. However if talks fail, the so-called “backstop” measure would be used.

• Q&A: Irish border backstop
• EU fears UK politics will scupper the deal
• Guide: Brexit and immigration

Both sides have resolved to ensure the backstop is not necessary by coming up with alternative arrangements.

“If we are not ready by 2020, we can extend the provision so we have more time, and if we are still not there with the future agreement after this, the backstop agreement would kick in,” he said.

“There will be a UK-wide single customs territory which Northern Ireland will remain in, and Northern Ireland will remain aligned to the rules of a single market essential for avoiding a border including on agriculture policy.”

The draft withdrawal agreement states that the transition period may be extended by mutual consent.

• What does the transition period mean?

Mr Barnier said that any extension would by a one-off, “by a limited period and by joint agreement”.

During the transition, the UK will be out of the EU. It will have no voting rights but will continue to abide by the majority of its rules.

There are also special protocols in place for Gibraltar and Cyprus to enable people there “to continue to live as they do today”, Mr Barnier added.

Spain has longstanding claims to the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar and the deal sets out bilateral co-operation on customs, policing, trade, taxation and citizens’ rights.

The UK has sovereign military bases in Cyprus. EU law will continue to apply at the bases, with the deal securing the rights of the 11,000 Cypriot civilians working there.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46216415

The post Brexit: EU’s Barnier warns of ‘long road ahead’ first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

The post Brexit is a ‘DEEP WOUND’ for the European Union – Merkel admits damage of UK’s exit first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.