A draft agreement has been reached in Brussels regarding the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union. This was announced by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. The deal has already been approved by the European Commission and will now be presented this afternoon to the EU heads of government.
The negotiations appeared to be leading to an agreement on Wednesday evening after consensus was reached on future customs rules in the British province of Northern Ireland. The dispute over issues including the VAT regime and customs duties is now resolved by placing Northern Ireland administratively under the new future UK tax system, while in practice keeping it under European rules. This prevents discrepancies with the Republic of Ireland, so no customs posts are needed.
Effectively, the customs border will now lie in the Irish Sea, allowing all customs formalities to be handled in ports and onboard ships.
Initial reactions to the negotiation agreement express relief that an apparently last-minute consensus was reached. Others, however, regret that the path is now clear for the UK’s departure from the EU. This is the first time since its founding that a country is withdrawing from European cooperation.
With this agreement, Brexit is not yet final: not only must the European heads of state later approve it in Brussels, but the British parliament must also ratify the deal on Saturday.
UPDATE 1900 hrs: EU summit has approved the Brexit deal
Furthermore, the Northern Irish party DUP has already stated that they do not agree with their province being treated differently from the rest of the United Kingdom. The Northern Irish feel that they are not leaving the EU and that they are being abandoned by the government in London.
Since Prime Minister Boris Johnson has only a very fragile majority in parliament, approval in the vote — currently scheduled for Saturday — is not guaranteed. He absolutely needs the ten votes of the DUP, as the opposition Labour party will also vote against. In particular, the ten parliamentary members of the Northern Irish nationalist DUP, who withdrew their support for the agreement on Thursday morning, seem likely to be a particularly difficult hurdle for the British prime minister.