EU says UK must obey existing laws during Brexit transition
Member states agree negotiating position on next phase of talks
The European Union on Monday said the UK would have to abide by the bloc's rules in full during the proposed post-Brexit two-year transition deal.
The EU wants the transition period to run from March 29, 2019, when Britain leaves, to December 31, 2020. The remaining 27 member states authorised chief negotiator Michel Barnier to play hardball on immigration, trade and fishing rights and called for "further clarity" on the future relationship between the two sides.
Downing Street on Monday said there would be "some distance" between the two sides on the details of respective bargaining positions as they seek to agree a deal by March this year.
The EU paper said that during the second phase of negotiations, "an overall understanding on the framework for the future relationship of the Union with the United Kingdom should also be reached".
"For that purpose, the European Council decided that it would adopt additional guidelines on this framework in March 2018 and called for further clarity on the United Kingdom’s position on the framework for the future relationship."
Among the EU's demands is a requirement that extends free movement rights and a special status to all EU citizens arriving before the final day of the transition at the end of 2020. It also says the UK will need permission to strike any external trade deals during that time.
"During the transition period, the United Kingdom may not become bound by international agreements entered into in its own capacity in the fields of competence of Union law, unless authorised to do so by the Union," the document states.
The position on immigration was reportedly inserted after concerns from Poland and other eastern European states, sources of large numbers of immigrants to the UK, over Britain imposing new entry rules to EU nationals during the transition.
“In particular, the provisions of the citizens’ rights part of the withdrawal agreement should apply as from the end of the transition period,” the paper states.
In effect it would grant indefinite leave to remain to EU citizens arriving after Brexit but before the end of 2020.
The EU also said the UK would be bound by EU law, known as the acquis, including the European Court of Justice, in a move which will anger hard right extreme Brexiteers.
Prime Minister Theresa May is under pressure from this faction, which wants to leave no matter what the cost, to face down the EU.
Her troubles increased on Monday after a House of Lords committee said proposed legislation bringing existing EU law into UK law was "fundamentally flawed".
Lords Constitutional Committee chair Baroness Taylor said: "We acknowledge the scale, challenge and unprecedented nature of the task of converting existing EU law into UK law, but as it stands this bill is constitutionally unacceptable."
“We conclude that the bill risks fundamentally undermining legal certainty in a number of ways,” the cross-party group said.