EU Parliament committee backs Brexit trade deal

News

EU Parliament committee backs Brexit trade deal

2021-04-15 23:35 Last Updated At：23:40

European Union Parliament committees overwhelmingly backed the new trade deal between the 27-nation bloc and former member Britain Thursday, pushing it onward to the full legislature for a final vote expected later this month.

The EU and the United Kingdom clinched the deal on Christmas Eve last year but it still needed the consent of the EU parliament, leaving bilateral trade to proceed on a provisional basis until the deal is finalized.

The committees approved the deal by 108-1, with 4 abstentions. Since the provisional application of the deal on Jan. 1, both sides have been bickering over the Brexit divorce that went into effect at the end of January last year, and specifically the customs arrangements between Britain and Northern Ireland.

In an attempt to ease those tensions, the vice president of the EU executive arm and the United Kingdom’s Brexit minister will hold talks late Thursday on Northern Ireland trade rules.

The meeting between European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic and U.K. Brexit minister David Frost will take place a month after the EU started legal action against its former member country, arguing that it had not respected the conditions of their Brexit agreement and violated international law.

The two sides are trying to find common ground on trade rules in Northern Ireland, where Britain’s exit from the EU has unsettled a delicate political balance.

Northern Ireland is part of the U.K. but remained part of the EU’s single market for goods after Brexit to avoid checks at the territory’s border with EU member Ireland. An open Irish border helped underpin the peace process that ended decades of sectarian violence, allowing people in Northern Ireland to feel at home in both Ireland and the U.K.

Unionists say an alternative post-Brexit arrangement the British government and the EU worked out has amounted to the creation of a border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K.

In March, London decided to unilaterally extend a grace period until October on checks for goods moving between Britain and Northern Ireland, a decision that led the EU to issue a formal notice to its former member. The U.K had been given one month to respond.

Some EU legislators are threatening to hold back the parliamentary vote that would legally seal the trade deal until they receive further assurances from London.

“Before scheduling the plenary vote, we look forward to receiving assurances of good faith on the proper implementation of the Withdrawal Agreement," said MEP Andreas Schieder, a rapporteur on the EU-UK deal.

EU, Britain and Spain say significant progress made in talks on post-Brexit status of Gibraltar

2024-04-12 23:26 Last Updated At：23:31

MADRID (AP) — British and Spanish foreign ministers said a new round of talks held Friday over the status of the disputed territory of Gibraltar following Britain’s exit from the European Union were productive and significant progress was made.

The meeting was between Spain's José Manuel Albares, Britain’s David Cameron and European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic in Brussels. Gibraltar Chief Minister Fabian Picardo also attended. It was the first time representatives from the four areas had come together for talks on the issue.

In a statement after the meeting, the parties said "discussions took place in a constructive atmosphere, with significant progress achieved.

“General political lines have been agreed (on), including on airport, goods and mobility. Negotiations will continue over the coming weeks to conclude the EU-UK Agreement,” it added.

All sides are eager to clinch a deal before European elections in June.

Britain left the European Union in 2020 with the relationship between Gibraltar and the bloc unresolved. Talks on a deal to ensure people and goods can keep flowing over the Gibraltar-Spain border have made halting progress in the 19 rounds of negotiations so far, but both Spanish and U.K. officials have recently expressed optimism about a deal.

In Britain’s 2016 Brexit referendum, 96% of voters in Gibraltar supported remaining in the EU. The tiny territory on Spain's southern tip depends greatly on access to the EU market for its 34,000 inhabitants.

Gibraltar was ceded to Britain in 1713, but Spain has maintained its sovereignty claim ever since. Relations concerning the Rock, as it is popularly referred to in English, have had their ups and downs over the centuries.

A major sticking point has been who controls Gibraltar’s airport, which under the proposed free-movement deal would be an external border of the EU. The U.K. and Gibraltar have resisted Spain’s insistence that Spanish border officials be based at the airport, which is also home to a Royal Air Force base.

The British Foreign Office said Thursday that while it did not expect a final agreement Friday, "getting senior political figures from the UK, European Commission, Spain and Gibraltar in one room is significant.”

Associated Press writer Jill Lawless reported from London.