Diplomats have been scrambling to draw up a document calling for the “timely” ratification of the Government’s withdrawal agreement. The leaked draft text will be presented at a summit on December 13. It urges the Commission – the EU’s nominal Government – to draw up a comprehensive strategy for talks on the future relationship with the UK “immediately after withdrawal”.
The deal as presented by Boris Johnson would see the transition period kick in immediately after it leave the EU at the end of next month, with Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Michael Gove saying this would not be extended past the end of the year.
However, EU officials appear to be concerned about precisely such an eventuality, with the stating: “Negotiations should be organised in a way that makes the best possible use to the limited time available for negotiation and ratification by the end of the transition.”
Few in Brussels believe a trade deal can be struck by the end of the year, despite Mr Johnson’s insistence.
Brexit will be on the agenda at the summit, on December 13.
A clear indication that the road to a trade deal is likely to be somewhat bumpy was offered by Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, who famously lambasted Mr Johnson after he skipped a joint press conference earlier this year.
JUST IN: Nigel Farage FURY as Brexit Party MEPs quit to back BORIS
The implications Brexit are considerable, even factoring in the £39billion divorce bill which Brussels says the UK will be liable for.
The UK currently contributes a net total of £9billion into the EU’s coffers, and other countries will need to cover the shortfall by upping the amount they pay in.
Squabbling is already underway, with Austria’s finance minister Eduard Muller in October suggesting the EU would need to reduce expenditure, as opposed to simply expecting everyone else to pay more.
At a meeting in Brussels on Wednesday, the Commission agreed each member state should pay a minimum of 1.1 percent of GDP into the EU’s multi-annual budget, which runs from 2021 to 2027.
Speaking prior to the meeting, Mr Muller said: “A smaller EU has to manage with a smaller budget.”
Together the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark, Austria are all net contributors to the EU budget, and all – the group sometimes dubbed the “frugal four” are concerned about being expected to pay more into the pot.
He told the Wiener Zeitung newspaper: “It rather requires an expenditure-based consolidation.”
He also point out: “The current financial framework for 28 member states has been created, but the future will only apply to an EU with 27 countries”.
A new proposal provided by the Finnish EU Presidency proposes to reduce the 1.1 percent figure to 1.07 – prompting incoming Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to suggest the figure was too low.