First Meeting of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement Partnership Council

Author Furfur Source Wikimedia Commons

 

Jane Lambert

Art 7 (1) of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community, of the one part, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, of the other part OJ L 149, 30.4.2021, p. 10–2539) establishes a Partnership Council consisting of representatives of the European Union and of the United Kingdom. Its purpose is to oversee the attainment of the objectives of the Agreement and to supervise and facilitate the Agreement's implementation and application.  The Council meets at the request of the EU or the UK, and, in any event, at least once a year.

The first meeting of the Council took place at Admiralty House on 9 June 2021 between 08:00 and 09:30.  It was attended by 44 delegates from the UK and 50 from the EU.  The British delegation was led by Lord Frost and Penny Mordaunt MP and consisted of representatives of the Scottish, Welsh, Northern Irish, Manx and Channel Island governments and civil servants. The EU delegation was led by Maros Šefčovič and consisted of Commission officials and representatives of the EU member states.

The reason I have not mentioned this meeting before is that the minutes were published on 20 Aug 2021. Accompanying those minutes are the agenda, a statement from Lord Frost on the meeting and a summary of the UK's new relationship with the EU.   According to Lord Frost,  the meeting took place in a constructive atmosphere and marked an important milestone in the UK's new relationship with the EU as friendly trading partners and sovereign equals.  He added:

"As regards the substance, the UK emphasised the need to continue and deepen our close cooperation on customs and on sanitary and phytosanitary measures and encouraged pragmatism, on both sides, to minimise the barriers to trade being faced. On fisheries, the UK made clear that it will exercise regulatory autonomy within its waters, while continuing to take pragmatic steps to ease the transition to the new arrangements for EU fishermen including on licences. The UK noted the good progress in the area of law enforcement generally, but that further steps were needed before all Member States were able to deliver on the commitments in the Agreement. The UK encouraged swift progress on the UK’s association to Horizon, Euratom and Copernicus. The UK also raised issues faced by touring performers and noted the ongoing work with Member States to try to resolve these issues."

Meetings have also taken place between members of three of the specialized committees which were established by art 8 of the Agreement.   

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Implementation of the Withdrawal Agreement - Joint Committee's First Meeting

Rt Hon Michael Gove MP

Author Chris McAndrew

Licence: Attribution 3.0 Unported
Source Wikipedia Michael Gove 

Jane Lambert

In EU's Draft Agreement on a New Partnership with the UK 29 March 2020, I wrote:

"Art 164 (1) of [the witdrawal] agreement established a Joint Committee comprising representatives of the EU and UK which shall be responsible for the implementation and application of the agreement. Following telephone discussions between the Vice-President of the Commission and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. a meeting is scheduled for tomorrow. Top of the agenda will be citizens' rights and the Northern Irish protocol."

A meeting did take place on 30 March 2020 by teleconference and the Cabinet Office and Michael Gove MP have published a Readout from the first meeting of the Withdrawal Agreement Joint Committee.

Citizens' rights and Northern Ireland were both discussed and the British government gave the following assurance::

"The UK reiterated our commitment to protecting the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement in all respects, and to upholding our obligations under the Northern Ireland Protocol. The UK emphasised our commitment to EU citizens in the UK and ensuring that UK nationals in the EU have their rights protected consistent with the Withdrawal Agreement."

Because compliance with the existing withdrawal agreement is likely to be crucial to the prospects of success of the new partnership negotiations, the role of the Joint Committee is important. That may well be the reason yesterday for the publication by the Cabinet Office of a Withdrawal Agreement Joint Committee - Fact Sheet at a time when the attention of governments everywhere is focused on other things.

Anyone wishing to discuss this article or the new relationship negotiations generally (and in particular their impact on innovation) should message me through my contact form. If you want a discussion by phone or VoIP I shall be glad to call you back.