Theresa
May has signed the letter that will formally begin the UK's departure from the
European Union.
Giving
official notice under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, it will be delivered to
European Council president Donald Tusk later.
The
first step has legally been accomplished, however, Article 50 gives both sides
two years to reach agreement, so unless both sides agree to extend the
deadline, the UK will leave on 29 March 2019.
As a result of
Brexit, the UK will withdraw from the single market, which means in turn, the
UK will start a new negotiation stage for the purposes to sign a trade agreement with the EU.
From the legal
point of me, the UK should prepare a Brexit bill, which shall detail the
obligations of the UK to leave the EU. Also, the UK will leave the jurisdiction
of the Court of Justice of the European Union. Therefore, mostly, trade
disputes should be set up under a different mechanism which is still subject to
discussions.
Apparently, upon
the conclusion of Brexit, the legal instruments of the EU, for instance, the Brussels regulations in
commercial and civil matters (Brussels regulations) and the others shall not be applicable to the UK anymore, in other words, no any legal instrument shall be applicable in
the objective of maintaining and developing an area of freedom, security and
justice, in which the free movement of goods, services, persons, capitals are involved within the territory of the EU.
Taking
into consideration the above mentioned issues, the UK should be provided with a
transitional deal for interim arrangements as well, however, when and what kind
of an arrangement is going to be introduced ? This question is still open.
On this thursday the UK
is expected to publish details of its "Great Repeal Bill", which aims
to convert EU law into domestic legislation and repeal the European Communities
Act, which says EU law is supreme to the UK's.
Having
said the above mentioned matters, the Brexit question also draws an interest at
WTO nowadays. WTO
members are interested in its agriculture tariff system and preferential trade
scheme for poorer countries after the UK leaves the EU. This question is also
open,but, the UK is treated by WTO as a member state of the EU for now. Nevertheless,
while the Brexit procedure is being negotiated, this question should be
clarified in due course too.
It
is not news that, upon the Brexit, the UK should prepare its own trade
schedules, which means the UK shall not use the collective trade schedules of
the EU.
Considering
the historical trends and trade-related aspects in Europe, to create its own
trade schedules would mean copying and pasting from the EU. But, agricultural tariffs and subsidies cannot simply be copied from the EU:
Because, the UK needs to get the agreement of the 164-member states of WTO on
subsidies, its farmers and how many tonnes of agricultural commodities such as
beef or wheat it will import at a low tariff.
The
other most speculated issue is about the relations of the UK and the other
non-EU states in the European continent, for example, Switzerland.
According
to Henri Getaz, the Swiss diplomat in charge of Brexit negotiations for
his country, said at the end of January that Switzerland regarded the
negotiation of Britain's new schedules as a potential win-win, but other
countries might not.
Does
Switzerland speculate post-Brexit aliance with the UK against the EU? Analyzing
the historical and current relations between Switzerland and the EU, there is
no any reason to do this. Most probably, the UK shall follow the model of the
EU-Switzerland which is farmed by a series of bilateral treaties where the
Swiss Confederation has adopted various provisions of EU law in order to be a
part of the Union's single market. Hopefully,
the two states shall work together to negotiate the favorable terms of access
to the single market within the EU.
Thus, by
remembering this day as an important historical date in the EU legal community,
lets follow the next steps in the EU-Brexit negotiations.
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