Future EU-UK Partnership: European Commission publishes draft legal text
The European Commission has today published a draft legal agreement for the future EU-UK partnership. It translates into a legal text the negotiating directives approved by Member States in the General Affairs Council on 25 February 2020, in line with the Political Declaration agreed between the EU and the UK in October 2019.
Today’s text follows consultations with the European Parliament and Council, and aims to provide a tool to support the negotiations and to enable progress with the UK.
The COVID-19 crisis led to the cancellation of the negotiating round scheduled this week in London.
Michel Barnier, the European Commission’s Chief Negotiator, said: “This text demonstrates that an ambitious and comprehensive agreement on our future relationship is possible, on the basis of the EU’s mandate and the political ambition agreed with the UK five months ago.”
In keeping with our transparency policy, the draft legal agreement has been published online.
Next steps
The UK has indicated that it will put forward some texts covering some of the elements of the future EU-UK relationship outlined in the Political Declaration.
Given developments related to COVID-19, EU and UK negotiators are currently exploring alternative ways to continue discussions, including if possible the use of video conferences. Both sides remain in close contact with one another. Substantive work on the legal texts on both sides will continue over the coming weeks.
For more information
The draft text published by the Commission covers all areas of the negotiations, including trade and economic cooperation, law enforcement and judicial cooperation in criminal matters, participation in Union programmes and other thematic areas of cooperation. A dedicated chapter on governance provides an outline for an overarching framework covering all areas of economic and security cooperation.
For more information
- Draft legal text
- Webpage: The EU and the United Kingdom – Forging a new partnership: Guide to the negotiations
