UK, EU Agree on New Brexit Deal, but UK Parliament Still Must Approve

United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson will take a second European Union exit deal to the U.K. Parliament on Oct. 19, after coming to new terms with EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on an agreement on Brexit. Under the deal, Northern Ireland will formally remain part of the U.K. customs territory, but will also be an entry point into the EU customs zone with no tariffs on goods entering from Ireland and a vote in four years on whether to keep the arrangement in place, according to a BBC report.

The U.K. would continue to fall under EU rules until the end of 2020, and possibly longer, the BBC said. Northern Ireland would have its first vote in 2024 on whether to remain aligned to the EU’s single market and customs union, with a simple majority extending the framework for four years, and support of at least 40 percent from both U.K. unionist and Irish nationalist blocs resulting in an eight-year extension, said a report in The Guardian.

The rest of the U.K. would not remain part of the EU customs union, so it would be free to enter into its own trade agreements, The Guardian said. The EU and the U.K. will aim for no tariffs and unlimited quotas in a trade deal that is yet to be negotiated. “Northern Ireland will remain legally in the UK customs territory but practically in the EU customs unions,” The Guardian said. Tariffs will be applicable to goods moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, unless it can be shown the goods are for use in Northern Ireland only, it said. EU law on value-added taxes will apply in Northern Ireland.

Whether the new deal will be approved by the U.K. Parliament is still in question. The Democratic Unionist party, which represents pro-U.K. unionists in Northern Ireland and is relied upon by the U.K.’s Conservatives for their majority, gave the deal a frosty initial reception. The prospect of customs checks for goods moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland is “not acceptable,” it said in a statement, according to the BBC.

Juncker said in a statement that if the U.K. Parliament rejects the transition deal, then there would be no extension and the U.K. would leave without a deal on Oct. 31, The Guardian said. However, whether an extension is granted would be up to the leaders of EU member states as an EU Council decision, not up to Juncker, and neither leaders of EU member states nor EU Council President Donald Tusk have said they’d veto an extension, it said. The U.K. Parliament recently passed a law that requires that the U.K. request an extension if no deal is in place by Oct. 31 (see 1909090056).