Last December the UK and the EU reached an important milestone in the Brexit process by agreeing our Joint Report on phase one of negotiations. It set out the united approach to Citizens Rights, the Financial Settlement and Northern Ireland that we want to take in the Withdrawal Agreement. It also committed both sides to working swiftly towards an agreement on the implementation period.
We have been clear in our commitment to turn the Joint Report into legal text as soon as possible and to reach agreement on the entire Withdrawal Agreement by October. This work has been progressing well in the negotiations over recent weeks and the EU has today set out its negotiating position on the Withdrawal Agreement.
In many areas we expect this negotiation to prove comparatively straightforward. This includes codifying the chapter of the Joint Report on citizens’ rights, providing further certainty to EU citizens resident in the UK and UK nationals resident in the UK prior to our withdrawal, and the chapter on the financial settlement. It also includes much of the implementation period’s design - which the UK and EU negotiating teams are aiming to settle by March European Council. But of course, there are other areas where more work is required.
As the Prime Minister said in her Florence speech, one of our first goals in the Brexit negotiations was to guarantee the rights of EU citizens currently living in the UK, as well as UK citizens living in the EU. I was pleased that we were able to secure these rights in the December’s Joint Report. It is right that those who have chosen to make their lives in our country, and in the EU, whilst we are a member of the EU are able to stay on the terms laid out as part of that membership. Clearly, the expectations of those moving after we have left the EU will not be the same as those who moved before our withdrawal. We want to be clear what this means in practice. That is why the Home Secretary is today setting out our offer for those EU citizens and their family members who arrive, become resident and have registered during the implementation period. This offer will help secure their rights in the long term, and it will be enshrined in UK law and enforced by UK courts.
As also agreed in December, the UK will meet our obligations that we signed up to under the current EU budget plan which runs until the end of 2020. The UK will pay its fair share of liabilities, but will also receive its fair share of assets. Crucially, we have ensured that our rebate will apply to the settlement, and that the UK's significant contribution to EU assets over the years is recognised. Of course, the UK continues to be clear that, as set out in the European Union’s own guidelines, ‘nothing is agreed, until everything is agreed’ this can only be finalised as part of the settlement of all the issues that we are working through.
On Northern Ireland, the UK Government remains steadfast in its commitment to avoiding a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, but also in its commitment to avoiding any borders within our United Kingdom. We continue to stand behind all the commitments we made in December and we will work with the Commission to agree how they should be translated into legal form in the Withdrawal Agreement. But the draft legal text that the Commission have published today would, if implemented, undermine the UK common market and constitutional integrity of the UK by creating a customs and regulatory border down the Irish Sea. No UK Government could ever agree to it. The UK and Irish Governments are equally committed to ensuring that our departure from the EU does not lead to a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland – and both the Taoiseach and the Prime Minister have said that their priority is to achieve this through the overall relationship between the UK and the EU. As such, this can only fully be resolved in the next phase of negotiations, when we discuss the future relationship in detail.
In December 2017, we confirmed the joint UK and EU desire to establish a deep and special future partnership. As part of the Joint Report we agreed that there were a number of areas relating to the UK’s separation from the EU, distinct from citizens’ rights, Northern Ireland and the financial settlement, where further discussion would be required to reach agreement. We remain committed to engaging in these negotiations in good faith with the aim of moving swiftly to the substantive discussions for our future relationship, however we are clear that many of these ‘separation issues’ will not prove relevant in the context of that deep and special future partnership. We expect that the future economic and security partnership the UK and the EU agree will supersede many of these separation issues.
The UK recognises that there needs to be a clear mechanism for governing and enforcing our Withdrawal Agreement with the EU – as there is in any international agreement – and we will continue to engage constructively on this in the negotiations. However, we have been clear that this cannot mean the continuing jurisdiction of the CJEU in the UK. In our paper last summer, we set out the principles underpinning our approach to enforcement and dispute resolution which included respect for the autonomy of both the UK and EU. It would clearly not be in keeping with that principle for the UK to accept the highest court of the EU as – what should be – a neutral arbiter of the Withdrawal Agreement. The Withdrawal Agreement will of course create international law obligations which the UK is fully committed to. These will be brought into UK law through the Withdrawal Agreement and Implementation Bill. The rights and obligations in the agreement will be enforced by UK courts with their reputation for independence and integrity.
Both the UK and the EU have published their legal texts on the implementation period. They demonstrate a shared ambition for a quick agreement and the significant common ground between the two sides, though a number of issues continue to be discussed in the negotiations. For example, we have set out that a Joint Committee should have functions in relation to the implementation period, including resolving any issues which might arise concerning the proper functioning of the agreement. The Joint Committee should also have regard to a duty of mutual good faith which should apply between the UK and the EU, for example, in relation to acts of Union law adopted during the implementation period. In this context, it is key that arrangements are designed to protect the rights and interests of both parties, in line with the vision set out in my recent speech ‘Implementation Period – A bridge to the future partnership between the UK & EU’. There should be no need for punitive sanctions that would not be in the interest of businesses or citizens in the UK or the EU.
In terms of the Territorial Scope of the Withdrawal Agreement, the UK is clear that it should reflect the UK Territories currently covered by the EU Treaties – including Gibraltar. It is entirely logical therefore that the implementation period, which will be part of the Withdrawal Agreement, will also automatically apply to all those territories.
Over the coming weeks and months the UK and the EU will continue to push ahead with negotiations in all these areas with the aim of reaching a complete Withdrawal Agreement in October. Our aim remains to reach an agreement on the implementation period at the March European Council, to provide certainty and clarity for businesses on both sides.
RT HON DAVID DAVIS MP
SECRETARY OF STATE FOR EXITING THE EUROPEAN UNION