Donald Tusk wrote on Twitter from his communication account as President of the European People’s Party: “1. Delay is better than delay. 2. Everything is better than nothing. 3. Our relations are stronger than Brexit.”
The European Union and the United Kingdom have reached an agreement on future cooperation
As Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission has pointed out, it is worth fighting for this agreement. We now have a fair and balanced agreement with the UK that will protect our European interests, ensure fair competition and give our fishing communities the predictability they so badly need. Finally, we can leave Brexit behind and start looking to the future. The European Commission President stressed that we can now consider this chapter closed.
The changes will take effect on January 1, 2021. The Trade and Cooperation Agreement covers a number of areas of concern to the European Union. It protects the integrity of the single market and the indivisibility of the four freedoms (movement of people, goods, services and capital). This reflects the fact that the UK leaves the EU ecosystem from common rules, oversight and enforcement mechanisms, and thus can no longer benefit from EU membership or the single market. However, the agreement will in no way provide the important benefits that the UK enjoys as a member state of the European Union.
The agreement does not cover foreign policy, external security or defense cooperation because the UK has been reluctant to negotiate on these issues. Therefore, from 1 January 2021, there will be no framework between the UK and the EU to develop and coordinate joint responses to foreign policy challenges, for example imposing sanctions on third-country nationals or their economies.
