EU Commission: Brexit transition deal should end no later than 31 December 2020

The Brexit transition period will end no later than 31 December 2020, the European Commission has said.

The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier also set out what a Brexit trade deal would look like, reportedly suggesting that it would be more likely to be “along the same lines” as relationships between the EU and countries like South Korea, Japan and Canada than the deals with other non-EU European countries.

At a press conference in Brussels, Mr Barnier said the transition period would be useful to allow Britain’s administration to prepare for the challenges ahead but it should be “very short and specific”.

He said that, from the date of Brexit in March 2019 until the end of the transition period, the UK will be expected to meet its obligations concerning the single market, the customs union and common policies, meaning Britain will effectively be observing EU rules and regulations while having no role in deciding them.

In her speech in Florence in September, Theresa May suggested that what she referred to as an “implementation period” should last for around two years, potentially stretching into spring 2021.

But Mr Barnier said the commission had agreed that the best date to end the transition would be on December 31 2020, which marks the end of the EU’s multi-year budget, making the transition around 21 months.

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He is said to have told reporters that Mrs May’s red lines to take Britain out of the customs union and single market and to reject the jurisdiction of European courts means the future relationship with the EU will be unlike ones between other non-EU European countries.

“Logically, for the economic side of our partnership, we’ll be working on the basis of a free trade agreement – along the same lines of what we negotiated and signed with Canada, South Korea, and Japan,” he said.

Mr Barnier suggested he is hoping to reach a political agreement on the future UK/EU relationship by October 2018, in time for it to be published alongside a new treaty containing the terms of agreement on withdrawal and transition.

He said guidelines on the future relationship would be presented for adoption by the leaders of the remaining 27 EU states at a scheduled European Council summit in March, adding: “We will be working on a new very important document that needs to be finalised by October 2018, parallel to the Article 50 treaty – a political document which will accompany the withdrawal agreement and which should clearly stipulate and outline the shape of our future relationship.”

(Top picture: AP)