Brexit Progress

Why in news?

After almost 6 months of futile talks, breakthroughs are emerging in the Brexit deal.

What are the major decisions thus far?

• It has been agreed that current EU citizens living in the UK will have their rights protected by the European Court of Justice.
• London has also agreed to pay Brussels 40 billion euros in the coming years as its share of outstanding obligations.
• This is a considerable compromise from London’s initial offers – highlighting that London wants to get things moving fast.
• These agreement are just the beginning terms for Brexit talks and the path ahead in discussions looks bleaker for London.

What are the issues remaining?

• Determining the kind of relationship the UK and Europe will have after Brexit is completed is a major one.
• Multiple proposals ranging from a simple free trade agreement to no deal at all exists.
• Some argue for a deeper agreement on trade, services and immigration on the lines of EU-Norway relationship.

What are the political challenges?

• The process has been difficult so far mainly because of the rough domestic coalition Ms May’s government has been piloting.
• A disastrous election, in which her party lost its individual majority, has weakened Ms.May’s position.
• Even within her “Conservative Party”, balancing the views of radical euro-sceptics with others has been a challenge.  
• She also had to play off supporters of free-trade against those vouching for economic nationalism.
• Notably, these divides are also visible in the Opposition Labour Party, thereby complicating things further.

How could Northern Ireland complicate matters?

• Northern Ireland is part of UK and in the recent elections, the pro-UK protestant Democratic Unionist party (DUP) won there.
• There is a considerable catholic minority within Northern Ireland who support for closer ties with the “Republic of Ireland”. 
• While these Irish tensions flared in the late 90’s a peace agreement was reached, establishing open borders between the two Irelands.
• As Republic of Ireland is an EU state, if Northern Ireland’s EU exit as part of Brexit means closed borders, it might trigger new unrest.
• As Ms May is running a minority government with support from Northern Ireland’s DUP, she’ll have to walk a tight rope.
• Notably, there is no consensus between Belfast, Dublin, London and Brussels on how to solve this problem.

Source: Business Standard