EU could offer UK a transition period after Brexit, Barnier says

The European Union will discuss a transition period for the UK after the country withdraws from the bloc in March 2019, though the country will still have to abide by current rules during that time, chief negotiator Michel Barnier said.

Britons voted in a referendum on June 23, 2016, to leave the EU. Prime Minister Theresa May triggered Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty in March 2017, which set off the two-year negotiation process to complete talks with the bloc about the terms of the withdrawal.

We should "define the precise conditions for a possible transition period, if the British government requests one," Barnier told a committee of the Italian parliament in Rome on Thursday.

"I would like to be very clear: if we are to extend for a limited period the acqui of the EU, with all its benefits, then logically this would require existing Union regulatory, budgetary, supervisory, judiciary and enforcement instruments and structures to apply," he said.

TheCityUK, a body representing its financial industry, said on Thursday that the UK must secure a transitional period "without delay" and stem the flow of jobs out of the country. 

May is expected to propose a two-year transition phase at a speech -- seen as an attempt to break a deadlock in the talks -- in Florence on Friday, the BBC reported. Barnier noted it is six months since Article 50 was invoked and six months will be needed for a Brexit agreement to be ratified.

'Only one year left'

"The question facing us over the coming months is serious, but simple: will the United Kingdom leave in an orderly fashion with an agreement or not?" Barnier said. There is "only one year left."

The UK wants to move talks on to trade, but the bloc is seeking to settle terms of the divorce first (specifically how much Britain will pay for commitments made before it leaves), citizens' rights and Northern Ireland's border with the Republic, which will become the only UK/EU land frontier.

There must also be respect for the 1998 Northern Ireland Good Friday Agreement which set the constitutional status of Northern Ireland and brought the province's Troubles to an end after 30 years of armed conflict.

EU leaders will decide in October if "sufficient progress" has been made for the talks to move on to where the UK wants to take them. If not, then a decision may not come until December.

"I'm wondering why -- beyond the progress we've made on certain points -- there is still today major uncertainty on each of the key issues of the first phase," Barnier said.

The fourth round of talks was delayed by a week to September 25.   To make progress the UK must make "clear commitments" on "precise issues," Barnier said, referring to citizens' rights, the financial settlement and Ireland.

Any transition period would be discussed after there is "clarity" on those points, Barnier said.

"The future of the Union is our priority, not Brexit," he said.

(Alistair Holloway, alistair.holloway@wort.lu, +352 49 93 739)