The EU presents its negotiating plan with London 48 hours after brexit

The European Union negotiator for Brexit, Michel Barnier, will present on Monday his draft with the guidelines of the EU Member States for the impending negotiation with London on the relationship between the United Kingdom and the community bloc after the current period of eleven month transition.

Just 48 hours after the United Kingdom stopped being a member of the community bloc at midnight on Friday after 47 years in its midst, and facing that first step of the post-Brexit era, Barnier has warned that he has "one Clearly: the first thing is the interest of the EU, of each of its member states and of all its citizens, "he said on Twitter.

"It's time to start looking forward," said the former European Internal Market Commissioner and former French Conservative Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, 69.

The time for the appearance and press conference on Monday to present the draft is not yet set, which should be subsequently supported by the countries at a technical level in a General Affairs Council on February 25. From that moment they can officially start negotiations.

Barnier has already piloted the Luxembourg with Jean-Claude Juncker at the head of the European Commission to negotiate with London to determine the conditions of the exit agreement and those of the transition period that concludes, in theory, on December 31, 2020.

The Frenchman, who will have the Spanish number Clara Martínez Alberola, former Juncker cabinet head, "number two", will continue to lead the most complicated negotiation in the history of the European Union, but with the German Ursula von der Leyen at the head of the Community Executive.

Von der Leyen has already said he hopes to get a trade agreement with "zero fees and zero fees", but from a fair economic competition from London.

Barnier, who insists on the importance of preserving the unity that the Member States have shown so far in the negotiation, has intensified his visits to the EU capitals in recent times to meet with the leaders of the Twenty-seven.

Last Thursday he met in Madrid with the President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, and on Friday, hours before Brexit became effective, in Paris with the President of France, Emmanuel Macron.

SPAIN

The socialist Sánchez told him that the priority for Spain is to maintain a "close and balanced" relationship with the United Kingdom, with special interest in the rights of citizens, a "stable" framework for fishing, access to the British market for products Spanish agricultural companies that include the protection of appellations of origin and a "broad agreement" on air transport.

As regards the issues raised about Gibraltar, Spain and the United Kingdom, they have already initiated bilateral contacts to define the future relationship of the colony with the European Union and signed a declaration in November 2018 that requires the consent of Spain and a separate negotiation on everything that affects the Rock.

THE FRANCO-GERMAN AXIS

Macron, on the other hand, warned on Friday that the new relationship "will not be the same" as that of the last decades because "it cannot be both inside and outside."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the same day that Berlin would like to "remain a close friend and friend of the United Kingdom," but warned that "the further" London moves away from "internal market conditions, the more naturally they will change. "future relationships.

DEADLINES

While the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, is determined not to extend the current transition period, which ends on December 31, 2020, the European Commission has reiterated that it is unfeasible to negotiate, agree and approve parliament in just eleven months of such magnitude, that goes from the rights of the citizens and the fight against terrorism to the airspace and the homologation of the medicines.

The exit agreement that was largely negotiated by Johnson's predecessor in Downing Street, also the conservative Theresa May, was subject to numerous extensions and delays that led her to resign and led the United Kingdom to hold early elections.

This agreement provides that the current transition period may be extended by one or two years, provided that London requests the extension before June 30.

During this period, the concrete effects of Brexit will not be perceived as the rules for citizens and businesses will be the same as until now.

London will have to comply with Community regulations despite the fact that, since Monday, the United Kingdom loses its Euro-Parliamentarians and its ministers and technicians do not participate in the meetings of their European counterparts in Brussels.

After this transition period, and if London and Brussels have not reached an agreement or extended the current "status quo", there will be a "hard Brexit".

LONDON

On the other side of the English Channel, conservative Boris Johnson, who until now had commissioned the Brexit portfolio to David Frost, has also announced that he will set his position on Monday for the negotiation.

Javier Albisu