While sounding more optimistic on how restarted talks were moving this week after last week’s showdown, the EU chief Brexit negotiator, Michael Barnier, tweeted on the 14th of December that ‘Never before has such a comprehensive agreement (trade, energy, fisheries, transport, police & judicial cooperation, etc) been negotiated so transparently [...]
One relief from the ongoing general uncertainty surrounding the ongoing negotiations between the European Union and the United Kingdom on a post-Brexit Free Trade Agreement has been to study specifics, such as its likely regional impact. In pursuit of this I recently participated, by video, in an informal conference on [...]
The dinner between Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen on 9th December seems to have done little to improve the chances of an agreement on EU/UK trading relations before the end of the transition period. Both sides have interest in achieving such an agreement and it would be premature [...]
Republished with kind permission by Jon Worth from his Euroblog. Image copyright: A nightmare before Brexit! by duncan c, licensed under creative commons licence CC BY-NC 2.0 OK, I might be jumping the gun – there may yet be a Deal between Britain and the EU – but as a result [...]
“The fabric of democracy is always fragile everywhere because it depends on the will of citizens to protect it, and when they become scared, when it becomes dangerous for them to defend it, it can go very quickly.” (Margaret Atwood) The deadline for ending the “transitional” arrangements for Britain’s relations [...]
17th December 2020 "Deal" or "No Deal"? A fortnight before the transition period comes to an end, there will be plenty to discuss on the topic of Brexit, in whichever situation the UK will find itself in. At this event our speakers took stock and offered their views and commentary [...]
Watch our Director Brendan Donnelly discussing why the choice which Johnson now faces between a poor Brexit "deal" and "no deal" are a fitting climax to the chaotic and incoherent Brexit process: You can also read his blog on this topic here: Johnson’s Brexit Dilemma: No good outcome in sight [...]
Shortly after the EU referendum of 2016, a “former Conservative minister” supposedly remarked that Brexit would force the Conservative Party to choose between destroying the country and destroying itself. Both the attribution and exact wording of this epigram may be questioned, but precisely this choice is the dilemma with which [...]
As discussions on an EU/UK trade deal post transition are now nearing the end, the City of London continues to worry about where it will be left from 1st January 2021. Financial services are not part of the main FTA agreement as had been hoped. Instead the City feels like [...]
“Time is running short.” This refrain was first expressed in June by Prime Minister Johnson and Commission President von der Leyen in their conference call, supposedly with the aim of injecting urgency into the ongoing UK/EU negotiations on their future relations after the end of the Transition Period. It has [...]
