You can read our story about the passage of the Withdrawal Agreement Act at second reading here. Guardian political editor Heather Stewart writes: On the issue of the Irish border, there is a Northern Ireland protocol (the ”backstop”) attached to the agreement, which sets out an alternative position that will only come into force if effective alternative arrangements cannot be demonstrated before the end of the transition period. If this happens, the UK will follow the EU`s common external tariff and Northern Ireland will retain some aspects of the single market until such a demonstration is achieved. None of the parties can unilaterally withdraw from this customs union. The aim of this backstop agreement is to avoid a ”hard” border in Ireland where customs controls are necessary. [19] After the Withdrawal Agreement Bill clearly passed its second reading by 358 votes to 234, it is on track to complete its passage by both Houses of Parliament in time for Britain to leave the European Union at the end of January. The most important elements of the draft agreement are:[21] The Declaration on the Future Relationship between the European Union and the United Kingdom, also known as the Political Declaration, is a non-binding declaration negotiated and signed in conjunction with the binding and broader Withdrawal Agreement in the context of the United Kingdom`s withdrawal from the European Union (EU). colloquially known as Brexit, and the expected end of the transition period. The UK will keep a copy of the agreement while the original will return to Brussels, where it will be kept in archives with other historic international agreements. Today, MEPs adopted the European Union`s second reading (Withdrawal Agreement Bill). The bill sets out the terms of the UK`s withdrawal from the EU. After the entry into force of the MCA, the Withdrawal Agreement must also be ratified by the European Parliament.
On January 21, 2020, the House of Lords passed the bill after approving five amendments. However, these amendments were repealed by the House of Commons the next day. [12] [13] The Northern Ireland Protocol, commonly referred to as the ”Irish backstop”, was an annex to the November 2018 draft agreement outlining provisions to prevent a hard border in Ireland following the United Kingdom`s withdrawal from the European Union. The Protocol contains a provision on a safety net to deal with circumstances in which other satisfactory arrangements have yet to enter into force at the end of the transition period. This project has been replaced by a new protocol which will be described below. The European Union also agreed to ratify the agreement on 29 January 2020[40] and the Council of the European Union approved the conclusion of the agreement by email on 30 January 2020[41]. [42] As a result, the European Union also adopted a decision on 30 September. In January 2020, it deposited its instrument of ratification of the Agreement, thus concluding the Agreement[43] and allowing it to enter into force at 23.m:GMT on the date of the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the Union on 31 January 2020.
The signatures mark a new stage in the ratification process after Parliament approved the Brexit bill earlier this week. The European Parliament will vote on the agreement on 29 January. On January 7, 2020, it then entered its committee phase (an entire House committee), where it was debated for two days. No new clauses or amendments were adopted. After an unprecedented vote out of 4. In December 2018, MPs ruled that the UK government had ignored Parliament for refusing to give Parliament all the legal advice it had received on the impact of its proposed withdrawal conditions. [29] The key point of the Recommendation concerned the legal effect of the ”backstop” agreement for Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and the rest of the UK with regard to the EU-UK customs border and its impact on the Good Friday Agreement that had led to an end to the unrest in Northern Ireland – and in particular whether the UK would be safe, to be able to leave the EU in a practical sense, according to the proposed plans. On 20 December 2019, following the Conservatives` victory in the 2019 BRITISH general election, the House of Commons passed the Withdrawal Agreement Act at second reading by a majority of 358 votes to 234.
Following amendments proposed by the House of Lords and ping-pong between the two houses, the bill received Royal Assent on January 23, 2020, allowing ratification on the British side. [39] The Telegraph`s Asa Bennett tweeted some photos of the prime minister signing copies of the Withdrawal Agreement Act for MPs: Immediately after the announcement of a revised withdrawal agreement on October 17, 2019, Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the DUP said they could not support the new agreement. [30] The agreement covers issues such as money, citizens` rights, border arrangements and dispute settlement. It also includes a transition period and an overview of the future relationship between the UK and the EU. It was published on 14 November 2018 and was the result of the Brexit negotiations. The agreement was approved by the heads of state and government of the remaining 27 EU countries[9] and the British government of Prime Minister Theresa May, but met with resistance in the British Parliament, whose approval was required for ratification. The consent of the European Parliament would also have been required. On 15 January 2019, the House of Commons rejected the Withdrawal Agreement by 432 votes to 202. [10] The House of Commons again rejected the agreement on March 12, 2019 by 391 votes to 242[11] and rejected it a third time on March 29, 2019 by 344 votes to 286. On October 22, 2019, the revised withdrawal agreement negotiated by Boris Johnson`s government took the first step in Parliament, but Johnson suspended the legislative process when the accelerated approval program failed to find the necessary support, announcing his intention to call a general election. [12] On the 23rd.
In January 2020, Parliament ratified the agreement by adopting the Withdrawal Agreement Act; On 29 January 2020, the European Parliament gave its consent to the Withdrawal Agreement. It was then finalised by the Council of the European Union on 30 January 2020. On 22 January 2020, the Bill was passed by the House of Lords without further amendments. He received royal approval the next day. [14] [15] The agreement was revised as part of the Johnson Ministry`s renegotiation in 2019. The amendments adapt about 5% of the text. [22] The agreement also provides for a transitional period, which lasts until 31 December 2020 and can be extended once by mutual agreement. During the transition period, EU law will continue to apply to the UK (including participation in the European Economic Area, the Single Market and the Customs Union) and the UK will continue to contribute to the EU budget, but the UK will not be represented in EU decision-making bodies. The transition period will give businesses time to adjust to the new situation and give THE UK and EU governments time to negotiate a new EU-UK trade deal. [17] [18] The bill has passed report stage and third reading.
On Wednesday, January 22, 2020, the bill returned to the House of Commons with five amendments from the Lords. These were all rejected. Described by The Independent as the government ”yielding” to Conservative rebels, the bill as originally conceived would have allowed MPs to review each agreement ”line by line” and make changes. [8] Conservative MP Steve Baker, who wrote for the Times, claimed that the new bill ”gives any deal we make with the EU a fair reputation in British law” and that it is compatible with the referendum result by ”giving more control over how we are governed in the British Parliament”. [9] The 599-page Withdrawal Agreement focuses on the following:[16] Boris Johnson signed the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement in Downing Street. The programme proposal was adopted by 353 votes to 243. The Withdrawal Agreement between the European Union and the United Kingdom sets out the conditions for the orderly withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the EU in accordance with Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union. .
