Most of the attention around the European Council meeting on 14-15 December 2017 last focused on the implications of the Joint Report agreed between the UK and EU negotiators on 8 December for the three key Phase 1 issues – citizens’ rights, the financial settlement, and the border between Ireland and the North of Ireland. Sufficient progress on these issues was the prerequisite for the European Council to agree to move to the second phase of the negotiations. Both the European Council in its conclusions and the European Parliament in its resolution of 13 December 2017 agreed with the Commission recommendation that sufficient progress had been achieved. Good summaries of the principles agreed in the Joint Report can be found in this House of Commons Library report and in this briefing prepared by the European Parliament Research Service. Michel Barnier, in winding up the European Parliament debate on the state of the Brexit negotiations on 13 December, noted that he hoped a draft Withdrawal Agreement incorporating these Phase 1 principles would be ready by the end of January.… Read the rest
Pitfalls on the way to a Brexit transition period
