[Merged]Brexit stuff

[GB9]

EU member states CAN NOT negotiate trade deals with other countries. We can only do such negotiations once OUT of the EU.

So the negotiations currently underway with other countries aren't underway?

And the informal exit negotiations which aren't allowed to happen, aren't happening either?

What the rules say and what is happening are two different things. We have been negotiating free movement across the Irish border since the day after the vote.

The objective at present is to line up as many deals as we can before pressing the leave button. Once in place, we press the button, leave and sign the arranged deals immediately. That way we aren't left without any deals.

You can quote the rules as often as you like but if you really believe there will be no negotiation before we exit then you are in a fantasy land that even Walt Disney couldn't dream up.

[VectraMan]

GB9 may be right about something.

We have been negotiating free movement across the Irish border since the day after the vote.

But that's a good example of where the problems lie. We can't "negotiate free movement" with Ireland until we know where we stand with the EU. Both parties can say they want to keep free movement (ironically after months of "take back control of our borders"), just like other countries can say they'd like a trade deal with us, but it's all theoretical at this stage. The biggest most important agreement we need to have is with the EU, and we obviously can't have an open border with Ireland until we at least know we're going to have a customs union with the EU.

[GB9]

GB9 may be right about something.



But that's a good example of where the problems lie. We can't "negotiate free movement" with Ireland until we know where we stand with the EU. Both parties can say they want to keep free movement (ironically after months of "take back control of our borders"), just like other countries can say they'd like a trade deal with us, but it's all theoretical at this stage. The biggest most important agreement we need to have is with the EU, and we obviously can't have an open border with Ireland until we at least know we're going to have a customs union with the EU.

I generally agree. But I regard senior Civil Servants from each party sitting in discussions together for 3 weeks to be negotiations.

I agree nothing can be signed but if each side gets to a satisfactory position then when the button is pushed we don't have to wait long to formalise.

[sirja]

So the negotiations currently underway with other countries aren't underway?

And the informal exit negotiations which aren't allowed to happen, aren't happening either?

What the rules say and what is happening are two different things. We have been negotiating free movement across the Irish border since the day after the vote.

The objective at present is to line up as many deals as we can before pressing the leave button. Once in place, we press the button, leave and sign the arranged deals immediately. That way we aren't left without any deals.

You can quote the rules as often as you like but if you really believe there will be no negotiation before we exit then you are in a fantasy land that even Walt Disney couldn't dream up.

Do you even know what a 'Trade deal' is?
Do you understand how much detail goes into such an undertaking?
If you think a 'Trade deal' is something that can just be wished for by 2 leaders having a cosy chat on the phone
then I want some of what your smoking!!
This is all so boring. Wake me up when the UK has those 'ready to sign' deals all done and dusted, while still in the EU. I guess it's going to be a long sleep for me!

[GB9]

Do you even know what a 'Trade deal' is?
Do you understand how much detail goes into such an undertaking?
If you think a 'Trade deal' is something that can just be wished for by 2 leaders having a cosy chat on the phone
then I want some of what your smoking!!
This is all so boring. Wake me up when the UK has those 'ready to sign' deals all done and dusted, while still in the EU. I guess it's going to be a long sleep for me!

I know exactly what goes into a trade deal. Easily done in under 2 years.

Good to see you have accepted that negotiations are underway though.

[shaunbhoy]

But that's a good example of where the problems lie. We can't "negotiate free movement" with Ireland until we know where we stand with the EU

You are displaying the very problems that have always existed for the British within the EU structure.
We are fairly fastidious when it comes to following rules. If we don't like them then we will campaign against them, but if they ultimately get implemented then we tend to rather slavishly follow them for good or bad.
The Germans, and more noticeably the French, simply pay lip service to those regulations they are not keen on. That is why the constraints of the EU have always been a bit of a bad fit for us.
Now that we have taken the bold step to withdraw from these regulations I think we will find that a great many things are not only going to be possible, but can actually be actuated with a minimum of fuss.

[CretinWatcher]

US - EU meeting in Brussels

U.K. Not invited, not important enough now
US has gone out of its way in this meeting to praise the EU and stress its importance to US.
In other words, US resources will now be focused on the EU.
JUnior diplomats can be diverted to the backwater that is the UK, soon to be Little Britain, when Scotland leaves, which is now inevitable.

[VectraMan]

I generally agree. But I regard senior Civil Servants from each party sitting in discussions together for 3 weeks to be negotiations.

I agree nothing can be signed but if each side gets to a satisfactory position then when the button is pushed we don't have to wait long to formalise.

That must have been a bit of a jolly for everyone involved. Ireland: "We want to keep the border open." UK: "We want to keep the border open". Both: "So what shall we do for the next 3 weeks?". There's nothing that can be agreed and no button to push because the customs union and trade arrangement isn't up to Ireland. Only issue might be Ireland leaving the UK passport free area and instead joining Schengen, but they were never likely to do that.

[DimPrawn]

Is this the best you Bremoaners can come up with?

[shaunbhoy]

U.K. Not invited, not important enough now
US has gone out of its way in this meeting to praise the EU and stress its importance to US.
In other words, US resources will now be focused on the EU.
JUnior diplomats can be diverted to the backwater that is the UK, soon to be Little Britain, when Scotland leaves, which is now inevitable.

All this brought to you by our Reuters correspondent embedded at the meeting...................or, more accurately, sitting in his eco-shed frantically polishing his rocket as the world keeps turning.