The UK is leaving the EU while avoiding a no deal crash-out
By Irish Echo Staff
A Brexit deal has been reached - finally!
Negotiations on finalizing a Brexit trade deal have been completed, with European European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen describing the agreement as fair, balanced and right, according to an RTE report.
Following ten months of tortuous negotiations, von der Leyen said: "We have finally found an agreement.
"It was a long and winding road, but we have a good deal at the end of it. The single market will be fair and remain so."
Speaking from Downing Street, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the deal agreed with Brussels would enable the UK to "take back control" as promised in the 2016 referendum.
As per the RTE report Mr. Johnson said: "We have taken back control of our laws and our destiny. We have taken back control of every jot and tittle of our regulation in a way that is complete and unfettered."
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the Irish government will "consider the detail of the text very carefully."
He said: "From what we have heard today, I believe that it represents a good compromise and a balanced outcome."
According to the RTE account the final 2,000-page agreement was held up by last-minute wrangling over fishing as both sides haggled over the access EU fisherman will get to Britain's waters after the end of the year.
Following the announcement , Ms. von der Leyen's Commission will send the text to the EU member states.
They are expected to take two or three days to analyze the agreement and decide whether to approve its provisional implementation.
The UK parliament will also have to interrupt its end of year holidays to vote on the deal before the 31 December cut-off when Britain will leave the the bloc's single market and customs union.
Once it is signed off and the text published in the EU's official journal it will go into effect on 1 January when Britain has left the bloc's single market.
The European Parliament will then have a chance to retrospectively approve the deal, at some point in 2021, EU officials said.
RTE was reporting that with Britain outside the EU single market and customs area, traders will still face a battery of new regulations and delays.
"Economists expect both economies, already weakened by the coronavirus epidemic, to take a hit as supply chains are disrupted and costs mount.
"But the threat of a return to tariffs will have been removed, and relations between the former partners will rest on a surer footing."
News of a deal, along with the recent agreement on maintaining the border protocols in Ireland, will likely mean that the way will be clearer for a future U.S./UK trade agreement without U.S political leaders, including President-elect Joe Biden, having to intervene to protect the Good Friday Agreement and the peace and political process.
Much, however, remains to become clear with regard to the future effects Brexit will have on relations across the Irish Sea and the Atlantic.
