Stick or Twist - Britain Suggests It May Overturn Parts of The EU Withdrawal Agreement - Britain - The Economist

9/8/2020 Stick or twist - Britain suggests it may overturn parts of the EU withdrawal agreement | Britain | The Economist
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Stick or twist
Britain suggests it may overturn parts of the EU

withdrawal agreement
If this is a negotiating tactic, it is unlikely to work
Sep 7th 2020
IT HAS LONG been clear that trade negotiations between Britain and the
European Union are making no progress. On the main sticking points, access to
British sheries and the EU’s wish to constrain state subsidies to ensure fair
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competition, neither side seems ready to compromise. But the British Accept
present relevant oﬀers and advertisements. By clicking on 'Allow' or any
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end of the year override parts of the withdrawal agreement a treaty signed
https://www.economist.com/britain/2020/09/07/britain-suggests-it-may-overturn-parts-of-the-eu-withdrawal-agreement 1/5
end of the year, override parts of the withdrawal agreement, a treaty signed
earlier in 2020, relating to trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Northern Ireland was the biggest problem in the rst lot of Brexit negotiations,
because both sides wanted to avoid border controls with the Irish Republic that
might upset the Good Friday peace agreement of 1998. After Boris Johnson took
over from Theresa May as prime minister last year, his solution was to keep
Northern Ireland alone in line with the EU’s customs code and single-market
rules. The withdrawal agreement makes clear that this means customs checks
between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. Yet Mr Johnson has repeatedly
denied that there will be a border in the Irish Sea. His new bill—reported in the
Financial Times and described as a tidying-up exercise by o cials—seeks to
overturn the withdrawal agreement’s requirement for export declarations on
goods moving from Northern Ireland to Great Britain, and also to scrap a
provision that Britain must provide details of state subsidies for rms operating
in the province.
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Why is Mr Johnson doing this now? The charitable explanation is that he still
wants a trade deal, and is merely trying to ratchet up the pressure on EU leaders
to make enough concessions to get one. His talk of October 15th as a deadline for
agreeing to a deal, after which he would walk away, and his insistence that no
deal would be good for Britain are all part of the same tactical game. His
unsubtle message is that, unlike Mrs May, he will not blink at the last minute,
since for him no trade deal (or, as his government likes to call it, trading on
Australian terms) is an acceptable outcome.
Yet if this is tactical manoeuvring, it seems unlikely to work. Ursula von der
Leyen, the European Commission’s president, has already said that, unless
existing agreements are respected in full, there can be no future deal between
the EU and Britain. As the smaller partner facing a much bigger market, Britain
has more to lose from the failure to reach a trade deal, which would mean not
just new non-tari barriers but tari s too. Experience suggests that the EU, the
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Moreover, by casting doubt on the implementation of an existing treaty, Britain
Moreover, by casting doubt on the implementation of an existing treaty, Britain
is inviting not just the EU but the world to see it as an unreliable partner. Its
chances of securing a trade deal with America would surely disappear:
congressional leaders have already said that, if Brexit upsets the Good Friday
agreement, they would veto any free-trade agreement. Other countries can be
expected to be similarly dismayed. As Brexit itself has shown, the right way to
change a treaty is to negotiate with its signatories, not to pass unilateral
domestic legislation in breach of it. The government’s bombshell is making a
deal at the end of the year ever more unlikely.
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9/8/2020 Stick or twist - Britain suggests it may overturn parts of the EU withdrawal agreement | Britain | The Economist

Britain suggests it may overturn parts of the EU

Sep 7th 2020

Reuse this content The Trust Project

More from Britain

Competence matters, and Johnson hasn’t got it

Fears grow of a December Brexit

The housing market

Demand for apartments is atlining

The best of our journalism,

Published since September 1843 to take part in “a severe contest

About The Economist Group

Advertise The Economist Intelligence Unit

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

Copyright © The Economist Newspaper Limited 2020. All rights reserved.

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