The European Commission has adopted a Recommendation for a Council Decision authorising it to open negotiations for the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.
Among other things the explanatory memorandum to the Recommendation notes that:
“It is recalled that the date of entry into force of the withdrawal agreement should be at the latest 30 March 2019, unless the European Council, in agreement with the United Kingdom, unanimously decides to extend this period in accordance with Article 50(3) of the Treaty on European Union. Failing that, on 30 March 2019 at 00:00 (Brussels time), all Union Treaties and the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community cease to apply to the United Kingdom.”
“There will be a phased approach to the negotiations, as set out in the European Council guidelines. The recommended negotiating directives in Annex cover the first phase of the negotiations.”
“An agreement on a future relationship between the Union and the United Kingdom can only be finalised and concluded once the United Kingdom has become a third country. However, Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union requires that the framework for the future relationship with the Union is taken into account in the agreement setting out the arrangements for the withdrawal. To this end, as soon as the European Council decides that sufficient progress has been achieved to allow negotiations to proceed to the next phase, an overall understanding with the United Kingdom on the framework for the future relationship should be identified during the second phase of the negotiations under Article 50.”
“Determining transitional arrangements under the withdrawal agreement, including bridges towards the foreseeable framework for the future relationship, in the light of the progress made, depends on the identification of an understanding over the framework for the future relationship between the Union and the United Kingdom which will be determined in the second phase of the negotiations. Therefore, matters that could be part of such transitional arrangements are not covered by the present recommended negotiating directives and will be identified at a later stage.”
The recommended negotiating directives in the Annex relate to:
- citizens’ rights;
- single financial settlement related to the Union budget and to the termination of the membership of the United Kingdom of the institutions or bodies established by the Treaties, as well as to the participation of the UK in specific funds and facilities related to Union policies;
- arrangements regarding goods placed on the market and ongoing procedures based on Union law;
- arrangements relating to other administrative issues relating to the functioning of the Union; and
- governance of the Agreement.
