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A draft agreement has been reached in Brussels on the withdrawal of Great Britain from the European Union. That is what British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker say. The agreement has already received the approval of the European Commission, and the agreement is now being submitted to the EU heads of government this afternoon.
The negotiations seemed to lead to an agreement on Wednesday evening, after agreement was reached on the future customs rules in the British province of Northern Ireland. The disagreement over, among other things, the VAT regime and customs duties is now being resolved by bringing Northern Ireland administratively under the new future UK tax system, but in practice keeping European rules. As a result, there are no differences with the Republic of Ireland, so no customs posts are needed.
In fact, the customs limit now lies in the Irish Sea, so that all customs formalities in ports and aboard ships can be handled.
Initial responses to the negotiating agreement relieved that it seems that agreement was reached at the very last moment. Others, on the other hand, regret that the way is being cleared for the British farewell to EU. It is the first time since its creation that a country has withdrawn from European cooperation.
With this agreement, the Brexit is not yet final: not only the European state leaders will soon have to give their approval in Brussels, but the British parliament also has to ratify the deal on Saturday.
UPDATE 1900 hrs: EU summit has agreed to Brexit deal
Moreover, the Northern Irish party DUP has already said that they do not agree that their province will be treated differently from the rest of the United Kingdom. The Northern Irish have the feeling that they are not leaving the EU and that they are being abandoned by the London government.
Since Prime Minister Boris Johnson has only a particularly shaky majority in parliament, a vote approval is & #8211; currently scheduled for Saturday & #8211; no formality. He absolutely needs the ten votes of the DUP, because Labor opposition party will also vote against. In particular, the ten MPs from the Northern Irish nationalist DUP, who withdrew all their support for the agreement on Thursday morning, seem to be a particularly difficult hurdle for the British prime minister.
