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Bruno Waterfield @BrunoBrussels
, 10 tweets, 3 min read Read on Twitter
“This requires the customs union as the basis of the future relationship" - more details
thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/m…
Weyand told Coreper ambos last Friday that "customs union will be fully operational in the withdrawal agreement"
"Fully operational" - so no need for a customs treaty in transition, or a bridging guarantee of one
Politico's @TomMcTague and @jacopobarigazzi are on the case
Britain will be bound by “level playing field” clauses in the new international treaty to follow the EU’s competition and state aid rule as well as environmental legislation until 2030 - yes, 2030
The measures, which are legally binding, have been demanded by the EU prevent British business getting any unfair competitive advantage by being inside Europe’s external tariff customs border but outside the requirements of single market regulations
During talks, and concerns raised by countries including France and Germany, commission assured ambassadors that the planned deal would place Britain at an economic disadvantage leaving the EU in position of strength.
EU to be "in the best negotiation position for the future relationship...
“The level playing field will be the basis for future negotiation. It would secure governance is a construction which goes beyond anything [else agreed with non-EU countries]"
In reference to the need for other single market regulatory checks, such as product and good safety inspections, outside of customs, it was explicitly stressed the arrangements would be disadvantageous for British business and investment
More helpfully for the government, a “joint termination clause”, exists for Britain to end the customs arrangement if a successor trade treaty, negotiated in 2020, removes any need for an Irish border
That's also why the workings of the "joint committee" that administers the clause is so important because the withdrawal agreement will mean UK is tangled in a "fully operational" customs union, level playing field structures that effectively dictate shape of future relationship
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More from @BrunoBrussels see all

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Campos Sánchez-Bordona urges ECJ to open "a third way" allowing as @JolyonMaugham argues, MPs to "cancel Brexit without cost"
"this would open a third way, namely remaining in the European Union in the face of an unsatisfactory Brexit"
From the full text of the AG opinion -

“the question cannot be characterised as superfluous or unnecessary [AS UK GOVERNMENT ARGUED], since the answer will have the effect of clarifying the options open to MPs when casting their votes"
“the answer to the question… will enable MPs to know whether there is a third way available to them, not only the alternatives open to them at present (rejection or approval... and statement on the United Kingdom Government’s course of action in the absence of an agreement)
Read 6 tweets
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ECJ advisers steps into Commons debate - government warned this was "Pandora's box"
Last week, Lord Keen of Elie, QC warned ECJ against providing "political ammunition” to Remainers. “Pandora was given a large box on her wedding which she was told not to open. We respectfully plead the court should not open this box."
Hubert Legal, Council's top lawyer, EU would be embroiled in constant negotiations would “to charm the notifying black sheep back to the flock through promises" of special treatment and "general opt-outs".
Read 7 tweets
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Brexit talks next week will be overshadowed by EU fears that the government might be reneging on previous commitments to avoid a hard border in Northern Ireland.
Negotiations will formally begin again as early as next Tuesday or Wednesday after the budget.
Talks will be repeat of the “tunnel” earlier this month with the aim of getting something a deal over the line after mid-November.
There is still cautious optimism in Brussels but some concern UK is moving back on previous agreements on Ireland.
EU officials and diplomats are carefully scrutinising PM's speech yesterday. Everyone is in the dark.
“Only Olly Robbins, her chief negotiator, the PM and a tiny circle know what is going on and what the plan is,” said one source.
Read 22 tweets

Related threads

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Suella Braverman tells Theresa May that her concessions "do not respect the will of the people" as she quits as a Brexit minister … her letter tells us what we already knew about the manufactured Irish border 'problem' …
The EU’s own report confirms that the Irish Border issue can be resolved with technology – does this expose other motivations in Dublin and Brussels? policyexchange.org.uk/the-eus-own-re… … via @Policy_Exchange
Read 17 tweets
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Senior sources say UK prime minister May has secured private #Brexit concessions from Brussels that will allow her to keep the whole of Britain in a customs union, avoiding a hard border in Northern Ireland thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/r…
EU concession 1: The EU will write an all-UK customs deal into the legally binding withdrawal agreement so an EU-designed “backstop” treating Northern Ireland differently from the UK mainland is not required
EU concession 2: There will be an “exit clause” to convince Eurosceptics the UK will not be under the EU's customs regime for ever
Read 8 tweets
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1/ In East Germany they used to say "they pretend to pay us and we pretend to work". This Sunday Times story shows that's how the government intend to sell the deal: DDR Brexit

thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/r…
2/ We're told there'll be (a) an all-uk customs union (b) this will have an exit clause and (c) it will allow a future Canada style deal and (d) that NI will not diverge from the rest of the UK
3/ (d) is false - NI will diverge, but as many regulatory checks as possible will be done away from the border.
Read 15 tweets
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Here's a thread attempting to set out the #Brexit timetable for the next few months, based on this insightful @brunobrussels article:
thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/a…
Salzburg Summit 20 Sept:
"Shouting over the “backstop” + starting point of a '“political declaration” on the future relationship that will be thrashed out at a sequence of summits'
Tory party conference 1-3 Oct:
Hoping "Boris Johnson and the Brexiteers in the Conservative European Research Group" do not do anything to prevent the next planned steps
Read 12 tweets
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1) Over the last few days there's been lots of speculation that Chequers is dead. Perhaps. We've seen MPs, leavers & remain, line up to trash it, as well as attacks from @MichelBarnier. If Chequers can't be saved, then the relationship with the EU must be looser, not closer
2) Chequers proposes a future relationship with EU somewhere between Norway's Single Market membership & Canada's looser free trade agreement. It's a compromise & therefore doesn't please everyone. It's far from perfect. There are details to criticise - e.g. fanciful customs idea
3) But overall Chequers has some merits. It would help protect British manufacturing while allowing greater control over services which make up 80% of our economy. It's also intended to resolve Irish border conundrum. And because it's a compromise it could pass a divided Commons
Read 12 tweets
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Critically ill Russian national is 66yo Sergei Skripal, former intel colonel/double agent granted refuge in UK after a 2010 "spy swap" between US & Russia. He and a woman were apparently poisoned in/near Salisbury shopping center. bbc.in/2D2oj7X
Ex-Russian spy & daughter 'poisoned' in UK sparks fears of another Kremlin-backed hit. Investigators scrambling to identify the chemical used. Skripal feared for his life after his wife died in a car crash & his son was killed in a road incident.. thesun.co.uk/news/5733372/s…
UK warns Kremlin over poisoning of ex-spy Skripal & his daughter. Recalling Litvinenko murder, FM Johnson said UK was "in the lead across the world" in trying to counteract a "host of malign activity" by Russia.

Skripal's brother, son & wife have been killed in the last 2 year.
Read 76 tweets

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