AFP, Brussels :
Britain has left the European Union after 47 years of membership and on Monday chief negotiator Michel Barnier will lay out the EU’s strategy for the next phase: negotiations to hammer out a new future with the UK.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to also swiftly reveal Britain’s game plan for talks where both sides will “have to rebuild everything”, in the words of Barnier.
Here are the main battle lines for the coming weeks:
Throughout his campaign, Johnson said he would seal a trade deal by 31 December, the deadline set by the EU-UK divorce agreement.
London could request an extension of one or two more years, but it would have to do so by 1 July. Johnson insists he will not.
That leaves only eight months, from late February to October, to reach an agreement and allow time for ratification, which could require the approval of roughly 30 national and regional parliaments, depending on the final scope of the deal.
“It’s an impossible task,” warned one European diplomat.
“By the end of the year, we could get the skeleton of a trade agreement plus something on internal and foreign security, but there is no guarantee,” the diplomat added.
Britain has left the European Union after 47 years of membership and on Monday chief negotiator Michel Barnier will lay out the EU’s strategy for the next phase: negotiations to hammer out a new future with the UK.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to also swiftly reveal Britain’s game plan for talks where both sides will “have to rebuild everything”, in the words of Barnier.
Here are the main battle lines for the coming weeks:
Throughout his campaign, Johnson said he would seal a trade deal by 31 December, the deadline set by the EU-UK divorce agreement.
London could request an extension of one or two more years, but it would have to do so by 1 July. Johnson insists he will not.
That leaves only eight months, from late February to October, to reach an agreement and allow time for ratification, which could require the approval of roughly 30 national and regional parliaments, depending on the final scope of the deal.
“It’s an impossible task,” warned one European diplomat.
“By the end of the year, we could get the skeleton of a trade agreement plus something on internal and foreign security, but there is no guarantee,” the diplomat added.
