Duru-Ulaya: Kura ya maoni 'Brexit'

[Wacha1]

The basics​

• Brexit happened but rules didn't change at once: The UK left the European Union on 31 January 2020, but leaders needed time to negotiate a deal for life afterwards - they got 11 months.
• Talks are happening: The UK and the EU have until 31 December 2020 to agree a trade deal as well as other things, such as fishing rights.
• If there is no deal: Border checks and taxes will be introduced for goods travelling between the UK and the EU. But deal or no deal, we will still see changes.

Gun boat 'threat'​

Admiral Lord West, former chief of naval staff, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme it was "entirely appropriate" for the Royal Navy to protect UK waters, although he said there would need to be parliamentary authority to allow officers to board foreign ships.

But Tobias Ellwood, Conservative chairman of the Commons Defence Committee, called the threat of using Royal Navy gun boats to patrol UK waters in a no-deal outcome "irresponsible".

"This isn't Elizabethan times anymore, this is global Britain - we need to be raising the bar much higher than this," he told Today.

According to the MoD's website, three River Class patrol ships with a crew of 45 sailors already work "at least 275 days a year at sea enforcing British and European fisheries law".

Brexit: UK-EU talks continue as Navy boats put on standby:

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said four Royal Navy patrol boats are ready to protect UK fishing waters.​

The Sunday deadline was set by Mr Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen after the pair met in Brussels on Wednesday, after months of talks failed to achieve an agreement.
Mr Johnson said the EU needed to make a "big change" over the main sticking points on fishing rights and business competition rules, while Mrs von der Leyen said no deal was the most probable end to "difficult" talks.

The EU has rejected Mr Johnson's request to bypass the European Commission and speak directly to French President Emmanuel Macron and Germany's Angela Merkel about the unresolved issues.

According to EU officials, he was told discussions could only take place through the bloc's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, who is meeting with his UK equivalent in Brussels.

If a trade deal is not reached and ratified by both sides by 31 December, the UK and EU could impose taxes - tariffs - on each other's goods.

EU/UK must learn to live without each other.

 

[Wacha1]

Tories criticise Boris Johnson over navy gunboats Brexit threat (msn.com)​

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Senior Conservatives have criticised Boris Johnson’s handling of the Brexit trade negotiations and his threat to deploy Royal Navy gunboats to patrol UK fishing waters in the event of no deal.

With the Sunday deadline for reaching an agreement fast approaching, the Ministry of Defence confirmed four 80-metre armed vessels had been placed on standby to guard British waters from EU trawlers from 1 January, in the absence of an agreement on fishing rights.

Tobias Ellwood, the Conservative chair of the Commons defence committee, called the threat of deploying gunboats “irresponsible”, when attention should be focused on striking a deal, while the former EU commissioner Chris Patten accused the prime minister of behaving like an “English nationalist”.

Johnson said on Friday that fishing rights were one of the two major impediments to a deal, the other being how to maintain fair competition once the UK is able to set its own standards and regulations from the end of the transition period in three weeks’ time.

The readying of the navy vessels is likely to be interpreted as a warning to Brussels over the consequences of no deal being agreed on trade – an outcome both sides have said is now the likeliest outcome.

Surge of supertrawlers off UK before Brexit killing dolphins and destroying fish stocks, say ocean activists (msn.com)

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The power of negotiation skills .... .....

 

[Wacha1]

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EU leaders stress unity as they welcome Brexit trade talks extension (msn.com)​

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© AFP/Getty Images Failure to reach a deal would mean cross-Channel trade reverting to World Trade Organization rules from January.

EU leaders have welcomed news that fraught Brexit trade talks will continue next week, but insisted the bloc was united in its determination to protect its single market as commentators lamented a “warlike, xenophobic” British press.

The European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said UK and EU negotiators would “go the extra mile” to find an agreement that would guarantee Britain zero-tariff, zero-quota access to the EU’s internal market after what she described as a useful phone call with Boris Johnson.

The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, said everything should be done to reach an agreement that would avert a chaotic and economically damaging no deal. “Every opportunity to reach a deal is highly welcome,” she said in Berlin.

Ireland’s foreign minister, Simon Coveney, said he believed a deal was “clearly very difficult” but was within reach providing both sides held their nerve.

With just 19 days left until Britain leaves the EU single market at the end of the post-Brexit transition period, Coveney said that despite some comments to the contrary last week he did think both sides wanted a deal. “It really needs to be done within the next few days,” he said.

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© Getty Images TOPSHOT - European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrives for a press statement following a phone call meeting with Britain's Prime Minister, at the European Commission in Brussels on December 13, 2020. - A negotiations phase of eleven months that started on January 31, 2020 following the UK's exit from the EU ends on December 31, 2020. (Photo by Olivier HOSLET / POOL / AFP) (Photo by OLIVIER HOSLET/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Analysts were not convinced the decision to continue talking signified any real progress. “Probably best not to read too much into the ‘useful’ nature of the phone call,” said Fabian Zuleeg of the Brussels-based European Policy Centre.

“The problem areas remain, and no landing zone for a deal has been identified. Negotiations need to have a purpose, adding more days doesn’t really help. It looks likely looks likely that neither side wants to be blamed for no deal.”

The French newspaper Libération said the prospects of a deal had not been improved by by the fact that “habitual xenophobia” and “hysteria” of the British tabloids - which this weekend included personal attacks on Merkel and a threat to “send in gunboats” – had “reached new heights of outrageousness”.

Failure to reach a deal would mean cross-Channel trade reverting to World Trade Organization rules from January. Tariffs would drive up prices, and customs and other border checks would snarl up borders and disrupt supply chains across the continent. Relations between London and Brussels would be poisoned possibly for years to come.

The EU 27 have insisted since the day after Britain’s Brexit referendum in June 2016 that they would not allow the UK to “cherry-pick” rights and obligations, and that if British companies were to have preferential access to the single marketthey would have to continue to observe its rules.

Insisting on its right to full post-Brexit sovereignty, the UK is reluctant to accept EU demands for a “level playing field” and, in particular, to agree a mechanism that would allow the bloc to retaliate if UK and EU law were to diverge in a way that would give British companies an unfair competitive advantage.

Spain’s EU and foreign affairs minister, Arancha González Laya, said the UK’s insistence on asserting its sovereignty was an unnecessary obstacle in the talks. “Trade deals are not meant to assert sovereignty,” she told Sky News. “It’s pretty clear when you do a trade deal that you are a sovereign nation. The UK and the EU are interdependent, so let’s do a trade deal that manages that interdependence.”

Charles Michel, the president of the European council of EU heads of state and government, told France Inter radio on Sunday that the bloc would keep its cool and do all it could to make a possible. “We must support a good deal,” he said. He stressed, however, that it would be “impossible to put a cigarette paper” between the member states on the key issue. “We are reasonable,” Michel said. “We want to maintain close relations with Britain. But we want to preserve and protect the single market.”

Commentators also expressed surprise at Johnson’s attempts – rebuffed by Paris and Berlin – to talk to Merkel and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, rather than the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier.

Catherine de Vries, a political scientist at Bocconi university in Italy, said the UK’s strategy appeared to be to “try to use a cliff edge to pit member states against each other”, using “asymmetric Brexit fallout as a means to get concessions”. The problem, she said, is that it “hasn’t worked. And there is no plan B.”

Who will blink first? Its not over until is over.

 

[Wacha1]

Boris Johnson calls on EU to break Brexit deadlock over fishing (msn.com)


© AP European Commission's Head of Task Force for Relations with the United Kingdom Michel Barnier walks from his hotel to the Conference Centre in London, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2020. With less than two months to go before the U.K. exits the EU's economic orbit, trade deal talks resume in London. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Boris Johnson called on Brussels to make a final offer on access to British fishing waters to break the Brexit deadlock, as the EU’s chief negotiator said the trade and security talks were entering the final “few hours”.

The two sides are at loggerheads over whether the EU will be able to hit British goods with tariffs should the UK close its seas to European vessels after a transition period of unspecified length, with less than two weeks to go before the end of the transition period.

Speaking to Sky News, the prime minister conceded that it would be “difficult at first” if the UK were forced to trade on World Trade Organization (WTO) terms from 1 January, but he insisted that it was time for the EU to make its move on the contentious issue.

“Our door is open. We’ll keep talking. But I have to say that things are looking difficult. And there’s a gap that needs to be bridged,” he said.

“We’ve done a lot to try and help, and we hope that our EU friends will see sense and come to the table with something themselves. That’s really where we are.



© Getty Images LONDON, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 16: Prime Minister Boris Johnson arrives back at 10 Downing Street after attending the final PMQs Of 2020, on December 16, 2020 in London, England. (Photo by Peter Summers/Getty Images)

“If that doesn’t happen then come January 1 we will be trading on WTO terms. An event that obviously has been four and a half years in the making, four and half years in the preparation. Yes it may be difficult at first, but this country will prosper mightily, as I’ve said many, many times, on any terms and under any arrangement.”

Johnson said “no sensible government” could sign up to a deal that didn’t allow the UK to retain control of its laws and its fishing rights.

Earlier in the day, Michel Barnier had said the main obstacle to a deal was over whether Brussels would be able to hit British goods with tariffs if the government closed its fishing waters to EU fishing fleets in the future.

With the European parliament having said it needs agreement by midnight on Sunday for it to be able to give its consent in a vote this year, the EU’s chief negotiator said the nine months of talks had reached the “moment of truth”.

Unacheza na samaki wewe!


Barnier said it would only be fair for Brussels to be able to put tariffs on UK goods, and fisheries products “in particular”, in a possible sign of EU flexibility on the issue.© AP European Commission's chief negotiator Michel Barnier wears a face mask as he leaves his hotel to head back to Brussels, in London, Saturday, Dec. 5, 2020. With less than one month to go before the U.K. exits the EU's economic orbit, talks have been paused due to "significant divergences." (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

In a speech to the European parliament, Barnier told MEPs: “It’s a question of whether the UK will leave in a few days – 10 days or so – if they’re going to leave the single market and the customs union with an agreement or without an agreement. It’s the moment of truth.

“We have very little time remaining, just a few hours to work through these negotiations in a useful fashion if you want this agreement to enter into force on 1 January.”

Barnier warned Downing Street that the time had come “when decisions need to be taken”.

“When it comes to access to markets without tariffs and quotas and the UK would like to regain its sovereignty over fisheries, to be able to control access to its waters and, as I’ve said on many occasions, I’ll reiterate that here: we can accept that and we respect that,” he said.

“But if following a critical period of adjustment that is deemed necessary, if the UK then wants to cut access to these waters for European fishermen, at any given time, then the European Union also has to maintain its sovereign right to react or to compensate by adjusting the conditions for products, and especially fisheries products to the single market.

“And that is where we come up against one of the main hurdles of the negotiations at the moment, fisheries being part and parcel of the economic partnership.”

But Barnier, a former French fisheries minister, said there was a fundamental issue of fairness that the EU would not back down on.

He said: “On a personal note, I don’t think it would be fair, not acceptable, if European fishermen were not allowed, following transitional rights, to have access to those waters when the rest of the agreement, especially applying to companies from the UK, would remain stable in their rights, so that wouldn’t be fair, that wouldn’t be honest.”

About 75% of UK fish exports, including the most valuable species such as herring, cod, shellfish, mackerel and salmon, goes to the EU market.

The government has said that after a transitional period it wants exclusive access to the zone six to 12 nautical miles from the British coastline and the repatriation of 60% of the EU’s current catch by value in UK seas. French and Belgian fleets have fished off the UK coast for centuries, while Barnier has said he cannot fully satisfy the British demands on quotas.

Barnier left the parliament early to consult with officials from the EU capitals and fisheries ministers before continuing negotiations with David Frost, the UK’s chief negotiator. Following a telephone call between Boris Johnson and the European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, on Thursday night, Downing Street said the negotiations were in a “very serious” state, and that a no-deal outcome remained “very likely”.

Latest Brexit offer 'selling EU fishing communities down the river', Barnier told​

Daniel Boffey in Brussels 22 mins ago

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Latest Brexit offer 'selling EU fishing communities down the river', Barnier told

Latest Brexit offer 'selling EU fishing communities down the river', Barnier told (msn.com)

Michel Barnier has been told by the European fishing industry that his latest offer to the UK amounts to selling coastal communities “down the river” as negotiators continue to haggle in Brussels over a post-Brexit trade and security deal.




© Getty Images Fish on sale in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France. The annual turnover from fish for UK vessels in British waters is about €850m compared with €650m by EU member states.

The EU and UK negotiating teams remain at loggerheads on the future rights of EU fishing fleets in British seas, with Downing Street warning there will not be a deal without a significant shift from Barnier in the coming hours.

The annual turnover from fish for UK vessels in British waters is about €850m (£770m) compared with €650m by EU member states. The prime minister has rejected the latest EU offer of handing over 25% of its catch by value – €162.5m a year – to UK vessels.

The UK insists that the EU needs to get closer to its demand for 60% of the current catch being repatriated, worth about €390m a year.

Downing Street also wants to restrict a phase-in period for the new arrangements to three years rather than the six or seven most recently proposed by Brussels.

But in a warning shot across Barnier’s bows, Gerard van Balsfoort, the chairman of the European Fisheries Alliance, representing the industry in coastal states such as France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain, said the terms already offered would involve “unprecedented” and unacceptable cuts.

He said: “The shape of a deal, as currently stands, would give a huge blow to the European seafood sector which is made up more than 18,000 fishermen and 3,500 vessels with an annual turnover of €20.7bn.

“Our industry is literally and metaphorically on the brink and in spite of repeated promises made, we are in the throes of being sold down the river with the offer made to the United Kingdom by the European commission. The more so when the fisheries negotiations with the UK are intended to start all over again after only six or seven years.”

Should the nine months of talks fail to produce an agreement on a trade and security deal, the UK’s waters would be entirely shut to EU vessels, unless some contingency arrangements could be negotiated.

But Van Balsfoort said his members would prefer a no-deal outcome than the terms so far proposed by Barnier. There are 11 days to go before the UK leaves the transition period, with or without a deal.

Van Balsfoort said: “The one thing we wanted to avoid was a ‘no-deal’ situation in the interests of all our fishermen but the deal which is now being proposed is every bit as bad. We are looking at vicious and unprecedented cuts on a wide range of stocks including our pelagic, shellfish and whitefish sectors.

“This is galling and if the European commission doesn’t stand up for its fishermen and honour its written agreement made during the arduous Brexit negotiations, it could spell the death knell for large parts of an industry which has contributed so much to coastal communities across nine EU states. Our fishermen must be protected as they risk life and limb to provide fresh food in the most unforgiving environment on earth.”

The European parliament has set midnight on Sunday, central European time, as the deadline for agreement. MEPs have said they will not hold a vote of consent this year if a deal is not in place.

A deal could still be “provisionally applied” by the 27 EU member states, with parliament holding a vote in January, although the commission is loth to take that route.

The provisional application process could also take up to a week, due to the need for translation and scrutiny of the text in the EU capitals, leaving just a few days more of talking time before a no-deal outcome, for at least a short period in the event of a very late agreement, becomes unavoidable.

A UK government source said: “We need to get any deal right and based on terms which respect what the British people voted for. Unfortunately, the EU are still struggling to get the flexibility needed from member states and are continuing to make demands that are incompatible with our independence.

“We cannot accept a deal that doesn’t leave us in control of our own laws or waters. We’re continuing to try every possible path to an agreement, but without a substantial shift from the commission we will be leaving on WTO terms on December 31.”

Latest Brexit offer 'selling EU fishing communities down the river', Barnier told (msn.com)

 

[Wacha1]

UK-EU talks on post-Brexit trade deal ‘at a crucial moment’ – Barnier (msn.com)​

Uzuri wa samaki umtafune bwana!

‘’The Prime Minister continued to insist the UK will “prosper mightily” without a deal, despite warning that it could add further damage to an economy already ravaged by coronavirus.

Trade between the UK and EU will face tariffs and quotas from January 1 unless a deal is reached.’’

But talks in Brussels remain difficult, with “significant differences in key areas”, including fishing and rules on maintaining fair competition.

Downing Street insiders flatly rejected reports that there has been a breakthrough in the row over fishing quotas.

The Office for Budget Responsibility has forecast that a no-deal outcome could result in a 2% hit to gross domestic product – a measure of the size of the economy – in 2021.

That would equate to around £45 billion being wiped off the value of the UK economy.''

 

[Wacha1]

So what did we manage to agree with the EU? (msn.com)


© Provided by Daily Mail MailOnline
It’s the document the (political) world has been waiting for – and it’s feared to be no fewer than 2,000 pages long.

Last night EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier and his British counterpart Lord Frost were still combing through the Brexit trade deal, line by line. Some feared it would never materialise. But the world could soon finally see the agreement – which will shape every aspect of Britain’s future relationship with the EU.

Almost a year in the making, the deal has involved hundreds of officials working round the clock to agree its terms. So, what are the key areas – and what will we be signing up to?

FISHING

Last night it appeared that Britain had given ground on this major sticking point to get a deal done.
Fishing rights have been the most intractable part of the negotiations. Boris Johnson made clear that Britain would be an independent coastal state in charge of access to its own waters – with UK fishermen able to catch a far greater proportion of the available fish than their EU competitors.

Brussels had demanded unfettered access to Britain’s waters for a decade. The UK had offered a three-year transition period. According to early reports, what we have ended up taking back is 25 per cent of the EU’s fishing quota – with changes phased in over five-and-a-half years.

Downing Street says this will mean we are catching two-thirds of the fish in our waters by 2026 – but there is no doubt that this compromise appears nearer the EU’s starting position than ours.

LEVEL PLAYING FIELD

Another bone of contention has been Brussels’ fear that Britain could take advantage of leaving the bloc by lowering standards to make its firms more competitive.

The EU was also worried that the UK could give more financial help to its own firms. As a result, it demanded a ‘level playing field’ to avoid a race to the bottom on issues such as workers’ rights and environmental regulation. It also wanted Britain to continue to accept a slew of EU rules.

The UK said this would pose an ‘existential threat’ to its sovereignty. Britain said it would settle for No Deal rather than face being tied to EU rules after Brexit.

© Provided by Daily Mail

Last night it appeared that Britain had given ground on this major sticking point to get a deal done. Pictured: Boris Johnson with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, on the steps of No10 Downing Street earlier this year

In the end, both parties appear to have agreed a common baseline of regulations on some issues, below which neither side will plunge.

However, the EU has also been insisting that if one side raised standards and the other did not, the latter should be penalised if failure to keep up resulted in unfair competition.

Instead, it is likely the two sides have agreed an independent mechanism to resolve matters if one side diverges too far from common standards. This would ultimately make rulings on retaliatory tariffs in the event of a dispute.

OVERSIGHT

A related– and thorny – issue is that of the European Court of Justice. British sources indicated that the ECJ will have no say in the resolution of any rows. This had been a key demand from Westminster, to avoid the erosion of British sovereignty.

Brussels conceded that it could not have the unilateral right to impose penalties on Britain – although it did push hard for a strong and independent arbitration system.

The EU had hoped to punish Britain for ‘breaking rules’ in one area by hitting back in another – allowing them to impose tariffs or taxes in an unrelated sector to inflict the most damage possible.

TARIFFS

In the end, Britain and the EU appear to have agreed a zero-tariff and zero-quota regime – a significant victory for Mr Johnson. Trade with the EU accounts for 43 per cent of the UK’s exports and 51 per cent of its imports.


© Provided by Daily Mail Another bone of contention has been Brussels’ fear that Britain could take advantage of leaving the bloc by lowering standards to make its firms more competitive. Pictured: European Chief Negotiator Michel Barnier
The prospect of No Deal – and trading with Brussels on World Trade Organization terms, as Australia does – prompted fears of massive extra costs for businesses, which would have been passed on to the public.

As talks reached the sharp end, ministers accepted that No Deal would lead to many staple food items costing more at the supermarket.

POLICING AND SECURITY

Sources say there has been some level of agreement on the key issue of security co-operation.

Britain had wanted to maintain the same access to shared databases that it has now – only for the EU to claim this was not an option for non-members.

Ultimately, the UK appears to have secured greater access than it would have received in a No Deal Brexit – although the precise details remain unclear.

HOLIDAYS AND HEALTHCARE

striking a deal means Britons will find it easier to travel to the continent than they would have if talks had failed.

It is also hoped that tourists will have access to hospital treatment when travelling abroad.

The UK has argued that the European Health Insurance Card, or EHIC, should also continue to be valid after the Brexit transition period ends on December 31 – sparing tourists the ordeal of arranging their own insurance.

At the end of the day the Europeans and the British have agreed to have a deal, so that they can enjoy their meal with fish. Lets wait for the signing ceremony.

 

[Wacha1]

Mr Johnson said his deal delivered on his promises
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UK and EU negotiators have finally agreed a Brexit trade and security deal, just eight days before Britain leaves the bloc’s single market and customs union on 31 December. The eleventh-hour agreement, which only emerged after a litany of missed deadlines, averts a no-deal outcome that would have seen Britain trading on WTO terms with tariffs and quotas applied to its imports and exports.

It represents the largest trade deal ever signed by either side, retaining existing zero-tariff zero-quota arrangements on imports and exports totalling around £668bn a year. The most contentious part of the negotiation ended with an agreement to phase in new quota arrangements for fisheries in UK waters over five and a half years.

A UK source said: “Deal is done. Everything that the British public was promised during the 2016 referendum and in the general election last year is delivered by this deal. "We have taken back control of our money, borders, laws, trade and our fishing waters.

“The deal is fantastic news for families and businesses in every part of the UK. We have signed the first free trade agreement based on zero tariffs and zero quotas that has ever been achieved with the EU.”



© Getty Images BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - DECEMBER 09: Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen meet for a dinner during they will try to reach a breakthrough on a post-Brexit trade deal on December 9, 2020 in Brussels, Belgium. The British prime minister's visit marked his most high-profile involvement in the talks over a post-Brexit trade deal, which has remained elusive despite months of EU and UK negotiating teams shuttling between London and Brussels. (Photo by Aaron Chown - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

In Brussels, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said: "We have finally found an agreement. It was a long and winding road but we have got a good deal to show for it. “It is fair, it is a balanced deal and it is the right and responsible thing to do for both sides.”

Speaking moments later in 10 Downing Street, Boris Johnson said the UK had “won its freedom”.

He said: “We have taken back control of our laws and our destiny. We have taken back control of every jot and tittle of our regulation in a way which is complete and unfettered…

“We have today resolved the question that has bedevilled our politics for decades and it is up to us all together as a newly and truly independent nation to realise the immensity of this moment and to make the most of it."

UK sources said that the deal would “guarantee were are no longer in the lunar pull of the EU”, as Britain will no longer be bound by EU rules and there is no role for the European Court of Justice. “All of our key red lines about returning sovereignty have been achieved,” said the source. “It means we will have full political and economic independence on 1 January 2021.”

The source said that the deal was delivered “in record time and under extremely challenging conditions” and would end free movement and allow the introduction of a points-based immigration system.

The deal does not preserve the seamless trade with the bloc the UK currently enjoys in the single market, and will see new border checks applied to UK and EU goods. It is the first trade deal in history to erect rather than remove barriers to commerce between the two sides.



© Provided by The Independent POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Extra red tape and bureaucracy caused by Brexit will see traders fill in an estimated 200 million customs declarations a year, while official estimates say it will cost the UK 4 per cent of GDP in the long term compared our remaining in the EU.

But failing to reach the agreement would have dramatically worsened the logistical chaos currently playing out at English channel ports due to French border closures. The 2,000-page legal text is understood to resolve bitter disputes on issues including access for EU ships to British fishing waters and Brussels’ demand for a “level playing-field” on standards and state aid.

Brinksmanship on both sides took the negotiation process to the wire, with the UK accusing Brussels of introducing new demands in the final weeks. Even after the detail of the vast bulk of the agreement was finalised, officials haggled through the night and much of Christmas Eve on the precise proportions of individual species of fish to be caught by either side in UK waters.

The deal thrashed out by chief negotiators David Frost and Michel Barnier was concluded some 1,645 days after the UK’s referendum vote to leave the EU, and almost 11 months after the formal date of Brexit on 31 January. The final, most difficult issue of fishing rights required direct talks between Boris Johnson and EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, who are understood to have spoken at length over the telephone in the final days and as many as five times in the final 24 hours.

If ratified by EU leaders it paves the way for a treaty governing trade between the former partners on the basis of zero tariffs and zero quotas, as well as future co-operation in areas such as security and law and order.



© Getty Images European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen gives a press statement after the European Medicines Agency (EMA) gave the green light to European countries to start Covid-19 vaccinations in the coming days, after a regulatory approval for the use of a shot jointly developed by US company Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, in Brussels, on December 21, 2020. (Photo by JOHANNA GERON / POOL / AFP) (Photo by JOHANNA GERON/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Ms von der Leyen said the UK will now be treated as a “third country” by the EU, but added: “It remains a trusted partner… The EU and UK will stand shoulder to shoulder to deliver on our common global goals.”

The Commission president said she greeted the achievement of the deal not with “joy” but with “quiet satisfaction and, frankly speaking, relief”.

"I know this is a difficult day for some and to our friends in the UK, I want to say ‘Parting is such sweet sorrow’.

“Let me use a line from TS Eliot: ‘What we call the beginning is often the end, and to make an end is to make a beginning’.

“To all Europeans, I say, it is time to leave Brexit behind. Our future is made in Europe.”

The document requires approval from the leaders of the 27 EU nations, while the European Parliament is expected to vote on it next year, after the deadline for MEPs to scrutinise it in 2020 was missed by a week.

EU leaders are expected to give provisional approval for the deal so that it can come into effect this year. If they were to refuse to do so, a short period of no-deal could still happen in early January anyway.

MPs and peers are expected to be recalled to Westminster on 30 December to rush the agreement into law in a single day.

But hardline Brexiteers on the backbench Tory European Research Group have signalled that they are not prepared to act as a rubber-stamp, reconvening their so-called Star Chamber of legal experts under the chairmanship of veteran eurosceptic Sir Bill Cash to scour through the document for signs that it does not protect the UK’s sovereignty.

Sir Keir Starmer has yet to say whether his party will back the deal, though Mr Johnson has little reason to fear parliamentary defeat next week, as few Labour MPs will vote against an agreement when the alternative is a no-deal crash-out.

The Labour leader is to meet with his shadow cabinet later today before holding a press conference.

A Labour spokesman said: “Since the election, the Labour Party has urged the Government and the EU to secure a trade deal because that is in the national interest. We will be setting out our formal response to the deal in due course.”

Trading on WTO terms would have meant tariffs of 10 per cent on cars and an average 18 per cent on foodstuffs imported from the EU.

“From January 1 we are outside the customs union and outside the single market.

“British laws will be made solely by the British Parliament interpreted by British judges sitting in UK courts and the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice will come to an end.”

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said: “We have finally found an agreement. “It was a long and winding road, but we have got a good deal to show for it.

“It is fair, it is a balanced deal, and it is the right and responsible thing to do for both sides.”

She said the deal meant “EU rules and standards will be respected” with “effective tools to react” if the UK side tries to undercut Brussels to seek a competitive advantage.

There will be a five-and-a-half year transition period for the fishing industry, she indicated.
And co-operation will continue on issues including climate change, energy, security and transport.

Mrs von der Leyen said she felt “quiet satisfaction” and “relief” that a deal had been concluded.

BOJO the happiest person today.

 

[Nguruvi3]

BREXIT YAKAMILIKA

Mwanzoni mwa mabandiko tulieleza ugumu wa Brexit na kusema haikuwa jambo rahisi kama lilivyoonekana

Hatimaye leo deal ya mwisho imefikiwa baada ya majadiliano ya muda mrefu

Mabandiko hapo #87 kurudi nyuma yanaeleza ugumu uliosalia hasa kwa upande wa ''maeneo ya maji'

Kwa upande wa UK mahusiano ya biashara yataiathiri kwasababu EU ni takribani 52% import na export.

Japokuwa sheria zimerahishwa ili kutokuwa na kikwazo, bado EU itakuwa na nguvu dhidi ya UK

Taratibu za uhamiaji na kazi nazo zimetafutiwa muafaka, kwamba, ziara za kawaid hakuna visa inayotakiwa lakini ni kwa muda wa siku 90. Madereva wa magari wataendelea kutumia leseni

Ingawa UK inasema imefikia deal la takribani Pound bilioni 600 kwa mwaka, bado biashara zake zinaitegemea EU

Pamoja na makubaliano ya biashara, kuna jambo moja limeiacha UK katika matatizo yasiyoonekana kwa urahisi.

Kama mnakumbuka tuliwahi kueleza mahusiano ya N.Ireland, England, Wales and Scotland

BREXIT imekubali Northern Ireland ibaki EU lakini ikiwa ni sehemu ya UK.

Kwa maneno mengine N.Ireland kubaki EU 'kuna ivunja UK' na kubakiza Great Britain(England, Scot , Wales)

Jambo hilo litachagiza mataifa mengine katika muungano kutafuta 'nguvu'. Scotland imekuwa mwiba kwa kwa Union Jack ikitishia kujitoa, sasa kutakuwa na mtanziko wakitaka kupewa hadhi kama N. Ireland

Upendeleo wowote kwa Scotland kutapelekea England and Wales kun'gaka. Wawili hao wamejinasibu mara nyingi wanaibeba Union Jack kiuchumi. England ikitaka nafasi ya kujitanua basi Great Britain i-mashakani

Kwa hiyo deal imekamilika lakini imeacha vidonda na majeraha ambayo UK itaanza ku deal nayo kwa maumivu

UK ni moja ya chumi mkubwa #6 duniani. Ni nchi ya viwanda ikiwa na influence kubwa katika siasa na uchumi

Pamoja na ukuu huo, UK bado ilihitaji majirani. Haikuwa rahisi kwa UK kukata kamba na kukimbia

EU iliwarahusu waondoke, UK hawakukubali hadi yawepo majadiliano.
Yaani UK inaiihitaji EU kwasababu ya kile kinachoonekana kuwa Geopolitical landsape

Hili ni funzo ambalo nchi kama Tanzania yenye muungano, na visiwa kama Zanzibar vinapaswa kujifunza
Bandiko lijalo tutajadili funzo lililopatika.

Kabla ya kuhitimisha bandiko hili kwa leo, ningependa kutoa taarifa kwa mwenzetu Mlenge

Mlenge alisema BREXIT ikitokea tumwalike, tulimwahidi itatokea na leo tunamtaarifu tu kuwa imetokea

Tusemezane

Mag3

 

[Mlenge]

BREXIT YAKAMILIKA

Mwanzoni mwa mabandiko tulieleza ugumu wa Brexit na kusema haikuwa jambo rahisi kama lilivyoonekana

Hatimaye leo deal ya mwisho imefikiwa baada ya majadiliano ya muda mrefu

Mabandiko hapo #87 kurudi nyuma yanaeleza ugumu uliosalia hasa kwa upande wa ''maeneo ya maji'

Kwa upande wa UK mahusiano ya biashara yataiathiri kwasababu EU ni takribani 52% import na export.

Japokuwa sheria zimerahishwa ili kutokuwa na kikwazo, bado EU itakuwa na nguvu dhidi ya UK

Taratibu za uhamiaji na kazi nazo zimetafutiwa muafaka, kwamba, ziara za kawaid hakuna visa inayotakiwa lakini ni kwa muda wa siku 90. Madereva wa magari wataendelea kutumia leseni

Ingawa UK inasema imefikia deal la takribani Pound bilioni 600 kwa mwaka, bado biashara zake zinaitegemea EU

Pamoja na makubaliano ya biashara, kuna jambo moja limeiacha UK katika matatizo yasiyoonekana kwa urahisi.

Kama mnakumbuka tuliwahi kueleza mahusiano ya N.Ireland, England, Wales and Scotland

BREXIT imekubali Northern Ireland ibaki EU lakini ikiwa ni sehemu ya UK.

Kwa maneno mengine N.Ireland kubaki EU 'kuna ivunja UK' na kubakiza Great Britain(England, Scot , Wales)

Jambo hilo litachagiza mataifa mengine katika muungano kutafuta 'nguvu'. Scotland imekuwa mwiba kwa kwa Union Jack ikitishia kujitoa, sasa kutakuwa na mtanziko wakitaka kupewa hadhi kama N. Ireland

Upendeleo wowote kwa Scotland kutapelekea England and Wales kun'gaka. Wawili hao wamejinasibu mara nyingi wanaibeba Union Jack kiuchumi. England ikitaka nafasi ya kujitanua basi Great Britain i-mashakani

Kwa hiyo deal imekamilika lakini imeacha vidonda na majeraha ambayo UK itaanza ku deal nayo kwa maumivu

UK ni moja ya chumi mkubwa #6 duniani. Ni nchi ya viwanda ikiwa na influence kubwa katika siasa na uchumi

Pamoja na ukuu huo, UK bado ilihitaji majirani. Haikuwa rahisi kwa UK kukata kamba na kukimbia

EU iliwarahusu waondoke, UK hawakukubali hadi yawepo majadiliano.
Yaani UK inaiihitaji EU kwasababu ya kile kinachoonekana kuwa Geopolitical landsape

Hili ni funzo ambalo nchi kama Tanzania yenye muungano, na visiwa kama Zanzibar vinapaswa kujifunza
Bandiko lijalo tutajadili funzo lililopatika.

Kabla ya kuhitimisha bandiko hili kwa leo, ningependa kutoa taarifa kwa mwenzetu Mlenge

Mlenge alisema BREXIT ikitokea tumwalike, tulimwahidi itatokea na leo tunamtaarifu tu kuwa imetokea

Tusemezane

Mag3

Asante Nguruvi3 kwa kunitag.

Kwani sasa tunaweza kusema "Uingereza iliyokuwa mwanachama wa zamani wa EU"? Bila shaka hapana. Bado.

Brexit is just Dog and Pony show.

Hatoki Mtu HapaTM

EDIT: Inaonekana UK wanataka kuondoka kweli. Let's wait and see de facto Brexit on the ground...

 

[Wacha1]

The left must stop mourning Brexit – and start seeing its huge potential (msn.com)​

Credit: Larry Elliott 28 mins ago​

So this is it. Forty-eight years after Britain joined what was then the European Economic Community, the fasten seatbelt signs are switched on and the cabin lights have been dimmed. It is time for departure.


© Provided by The Guardian Photograph: Niklas Halle’n/AFP/Getty Images

Many in the UK, especially on the left, are in despair that this moment has arrived. For them, this can never be the journey to somewhere better: instead it is the equivalent of the last helicopter leaving the roof of the US embassy in Saigon in 1975.

The lefties who voted for Brexit see it differently. For them (us, actually, because I am one of them), the vote to leave was historically progressive. It marked the rejection of a status quo that was only delivering for the better off by those who demanded their voice was heard. Far from being a reactionary spasm, Brexit was democracy in action.

Related: Brexit is far from done – this deal is no ‘game, set and match' | Anand Menon

Now the UK has a choice. It can continue to mourn or it can take advantage of the opportunities that Brexit has provided. For a number of reasons, it makes sense to adopt the latter course.

For a start, it is clear that the UK has deep, structural economic problems despite – and in some cases because of – almost half a century of EU membership. Since 1973, the manufacturing base has shrivelled, the trade balance has been in permanent deficit, and the north-south divide has widened. Free movement of labour has helped entrench Britain’s reputation as a low-investment, low-productivity economy. Brexit means that those farmers who want their fruit harvested will now have to do things that the left ought to want: pay higher wages or invest in new machinery.


© Photograph: Niklas Halle’n/AFP/Getty Images ‘The mass exodus of banks and other financial institutions from the City of London, predicted since June 2016, has not materialised.’ View over the Thames to the City.

The part of the economy that has done best out of EU membership has been the bit that needed least help: the City of London. Each country in the EU has tended to specialise: the Germans do the high-quality manufactured goods; France does the food and drink; the UK does the money. Yet the mass exodus of banks and other financial institutions that has been predicted since June 2016 has not materialised, because London is a global as well as a European financial centre. The City will continue to thrive.

If there are problems with the UK economy, it is equally obvious there are big problems with the EU as well: slow growth, high levels of unemployment, a rapidly ageing population. The single currency – which Britain fortunately never joined – has failed to deliver the promised benefits. Instead of convergence between member states there has been divergence; instead of closing the gap in living standards with the US, the eurozone nations have fallen further behind.

In their heads, those predicting Armageddon for the UK imagine the EU to still be Germany’s miracle economy – the Wirtschaftswunder – of the 1960s. The reality is somewhat different. It is Italy, where living standards are no higher than they were when the single currency was introduced two decades ago. It is Greece, forced to accept ideologically motivated austerity in return for financial support. The four freedoms of the single market – no barriers to the movement of goods, services, people and capital – are actually the four pillars of neoliberalism.

The Covid-19 crisis has demonstrated the importance of nation states and the limitations of the EU. Britain’s economic response to the pandemic was speedy and coordinated: the Bank of England cut interest rates and boosted the money supply while the Treasury pumped billions into the NHS and the furlough scheme. It has taken months and months of wrangling for the eurozone to come up with the same sort of joined-up approach.

Earlier in the year, there was criticism of the government when it decided to opt out of the EU vaccine procurement programme, but this now looks to have been a smart move. Brussels has been slow to place orders for drugs that are effective, in part because it has bowed to internal political pressure to spread the budget around member states – and its regulator has been slower to give approval for treatments. Big does not always mean better.

Leaving the EU means UK governments no longer have anywhere to hide. They have economic levers they can pull – procurement, tax, ownership, regulation, investment in infrastructure, subsidies for new industries, trade policy – and they will come under pressure to use them.

Many on the remainer left accept the EU has its faults, but they fear that Brexit will be the start of something worse: slash and burn deregulation that will make Britain a nastier place to live.

This, though, assumes that Britain will have rightwing governments in perpetuity. It used to be the left who welcomed change and the right that wanted things to remain the same. The inability to envisage what a progressive government could do with Brexit represents a political role reversal and a colossal loss of nerve.

BOJO showed how is done. Theresa May was complaining in the Commons that ''her deal was better than BOJO's deal. ''She will be remembered as the PM who spend the shortest time in Westminster.

 

[Wacha1]

UK prepares for end of Brexit transition period as trade deal enters into law with hours to spare (msn.com)

Britain is to begin the next chapter in its relationship with the European Union after Boris Johnson’s Brexit trade deal cleared parliament and entered into law in a single day with just hours to spare before the end of the transition period.

The prime minister said the country’s destiny "now resides firmly in our hands" after the government rushed through approval of a bill to ratify a long-delayed trade agreement reached with European leaders last week.

The legislation, which was passed by the House of Commons with an overwhelming majority of 448 votes, averted the possibility of a damaging no-deal exit from the bloc at the eleventh hour.

Peers then gave the European Union (Future Relationship) Bill an unopposed third reading before it was announced at 12.25am on Thursday morning that the legislation had been granted royal assent, officially signing the UK-EU deal into law.

 

[Wacha1]

Few minutes ago the UK started to experience life outside the EU.

Brexit transition ends as UK-EU trade deal takes effect

© Reuters The last cross channel ferry to leave ahead of the end of the Brexit transition period, departs to France, from Dover,



© PA Lorries board the final DFDS ferry from the Port of Dover



© PA The final DFDS ferry (middle) departs from Dover before the Brexit transition period concludes


© Getty A truck in Calais, Northern France on the day the Brexit transition period ends

 

[Nguruvi3]

BREXIT IMEKAMILIKA, 'FAMILY FEUD' INAANZA

Jumatano Bunge la UK liliidhinisha kutoka kwa UK ndani ya EU kwa kishindo
Alhamis sheria hiyo ikapata royal assent na kuhitimisha mchakato wa kujitoa

Katika uzi huu tulieleza changamoto za muda mfupi na za muda mrefu kwa hatua ya kujitoa
Kabla ya kukumbusha baadhi ya hatua hizo, yajuzu kusema kuwa UK imejitoa kama tulivyoeleza katika uzi huu

Tutakuwa na uzi mwingine kuhusu '' UK Kutojitoa UK' mahususi kwa ndugu yetu Mlenge

Mabandiko ya nyuma tulizungumzia madhara ya Brexit katika UK tukionyesha ushirika wa mataifa ya UK
England, Wales, Scotland, N. Ireland.

Bandiko 88 tukakumbusha kwamba Brexit ni mwisho lakini ni mwanzo wa tatizo jingine ndani ya UK.

Tayari matatizo yameanza. N. Ireland itabaki EU ikiwa ni sehemu ya UK na itafuata sheria za EU jambo linalowaudhi wahafidhina hasa wa kasri la mama.

Kwamba, kwao kilichowaudhi ni sheria kutungwa Brussles na si London.
Sasa N. Ireland imebaki EU ikiwa sehemu ya UK na sheria kama zile za mahakama zitakuwa za EU

Hayo yakiendelea, Bunge la Scotland nalo limeonyesha kutoridhishwa na kujitoa EU.

Msuko suko wa kura ya kujitoa UK unazidi kupata nguvu na #10 Downing st inaanza mpambano wa wanafamilia ' Family feud' unaotisha mstakabali wa Union Jack

Upendeleo wowote kwa Scotland utaamsha hisia kali kwa England ambayo kwa muda mrefu imelalamika kuibeba UK bila kuwa na mamlaka huru kama ilivyo Scotland. Washirika wanaanza kuangaliana kwa mashaka

Mgogoro wa UK dhidi ya EU ni wa nchi moja dhidi ya mataifa 27. Mgogoro wa Scotland, N. Ireland , England na Wales ni wa wanafamilia na ni mgumu sana kwani hakuna 'adui' wa nje bali adui ni miongoni mwa washirika

Pamoja na kujinasibu muafaka wa kujitoa umekuwa na faida kwa UK, kuna mzozo ndani ya UK Ukitokea nje.

Moja ya masharti ya kujitoa ni EU kutotambua Qualification za watu wa UK
Kwamaneno mengine professional hawawezi kufanya kazi nje ya UK.

Hilo litakuwa tatizo kwa wasomi ambao kwa muda mrefu wamejipatia ajira nzuri nje ya UK.

Bado kuna mambo hayajawekwa wazi na mengine yakifichwa kutokana na ukali kwa maisha ya kawaida ya raia.

Pale sheria zitakaposhika kasi kutakuwa na mtafaruku mwingine wa kiuchumi.

Inatosha kusema tatizo moja limekwisha, lakini ni mwanzo wa matatizo mengine ndani ya UK
Ni suala la muda

Tusemezane

 

[Wacha1]

Moja ya masharti ya kujitoa ni EU kutotambua Qualification za watu wa UK
Kwamaneno mengine professional hawawezi kufanya kazi nje ya UK.

Hilo litakuwa tatizo kwa wasomi ambao kwa muda mrefu wamejipatia ajira nzuri nje ya UK.

Bado kuna mambo hayajawekwa wazi na mengine yakifichwa kutokana na ukali kwa maisha ya kawaida ya raia.

Pale sheria zitakaposhika kasi kutakuwa na mtafaruku mwingine wa kiuchumi.

Hilo la qualification naona sio sahihi, Wapo waingereza wengi tu wanafanya kazi kwenye EU countries, sema ule mkataba wa Universities within EU ndio utakwama kwa sababu vyuo vikuu vilivyo kwenye EU countries havitakuwa na same treatment kwa Waingereza vivyo hivyo EU nationals watakuwa hawatambuliki kama home students in UK. (Hapa ni swala la funding). Vile vile EU ambao walikuwa wanatoa funding kwenye UK Universities watakuwa na utaratibu mwingine mfano UCL ambao funding yao kubwa ilikuwa inatoka EU.

British nationals hawana ukali wa maisha mkuu, ni kujitakia tu. Social services in UK inamwezesha mkazi kumudu mahitaji yake yote bila wasi wasi. Rejea kwa nini EU nationals wamekuwa wakipendelea kuishi UK na kukataa kuishi Ufaransa, Germany or any other country? (One of the crucial reason for Brexit was that).

 

[Wacha1]

Brexit trade deal: British fishermen say they feel ‘betrayed’ (msn.com)​