Michel Barnier

UK Transport and Brexit News & Views No. 66

11/06/2018

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Mark’s Brexit Week for Transport Whilst the ‘backstop’ debate dominated the Brexit news last week you may be forgiven for missing the future partnership paper for transport published by DExEU, a paper UKTiE has been calling for for almost a year. I’m sure it is something we should all welcome. The position paper is a good start, but we still need much more clarity. Indeed it’s noteworthy not for what is in it, but what is not included. On rail…

UK Transport and Brexit News & Views No. 65

04/06/2018

Regina Garcia Nunez

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Mark’s Brexit Week for Transport With the UK Parliament back from recess, Brexit is now firmly back in the saddle and we’re hearing a lot of optimistic noises from DExEU. Nothing wrong with optimism, and the Micawber principle that something good will turn up sometimes holds true. But as a strategy to see us through Brexit and beyond it’s not enough, not least in the transport field where a culture of planning and risk based assessments has quite rightly replaced the early pioneers…

UK Transport and Brexit News & Views No. 64

29/05/2018

Regina Garcia Nunez

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Mark’s Brexit Week for Transport I detect the tectonic plates of Brexit are shifting, which will have a deep, profound and lasting impact on Brexit & transport. The focus has mainly been on the on-going struggle within Cabinet to reach an agreement on customs, which both avoids a hard border with Ireland and ensures UK sovereignty over trade and regulation. As reported below, the Head of Britain’s HMRC told MPs recently that the ‘Max fac’ customs option, favoured by Brexiteers…

UK Transport and Brexit News & Views No. 56

16/03/2018

Regina Garcia Nunez

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Mark’s Brexit Week for Transport It’s good for once to be able report there has been solid progress on all fronts in relation to Brexit and transport. The EU 27 are likely to adopt the Brexit guidelines at next Friday’s summit morning session of the European Council which will broadly reflect many of our demands in relation to transport. We’ve been working hard behind the scenes, and indeed were among the first to call for a transitional arrangement (or implementation…

UK Transport and Brexit News & Views No. 54

23/02/2018

Regina Garcia Nunez

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Mark’s Brexit Week for Transport Ahead of the all-important March European Council meeting at the end of March, this week has seen Brexit move into a higher gear on both sides of the Channel. Starting on the UK side, a week that has culminated with a Brexit Cabinet agreement following an eight-hour meeting at the Prime Minister’s country retreat at Chequers. The so-called ‘Three Baskets Approach’, apparently agreed at this meeting, was something explicitly rejected by the EU in a…

UK Transport and Brexit News & Views No. 53

09/02/2018

Regina Garcia Nunez

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Mark’s Brexit Week for Transport Last week I raised our concerns about the legal issues which could threaten the transition arrangement. This week I have raised our concerns about the political issues which now threaten to derail the entire Brexit process. Indeed, last week I referred to the gap that appeared to be opening between the UK and the EU27. This week that gap started to turn into a chasm, as both sides dug in for some very difficult weeks…

UK Transport and Brexit News & Views No. 50

19/01/2018

Regina Garcia Nunez

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Mark’s Brexit Week for Transport In the past week, the UK has been focusing on bilateral issues relating to Brexit, namely those concerning Calais with France. However, there is concern here in Brussels that this amounts to putting the cart before the horse. While the UK must be commended for looking at issues such as the Le Touquet Treaty, the overarching Brexit debate remains stuck between the EU insisting the UK has very limited choices if the UK does not…

UK Transport and Brexit News & Views No. 48

18/12/2017

Regina Garcia Nunez

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After a very busy week, progress onto Phase 2 has finally been agreed by the European Council following recommendations of progress by the European Commission and the European Parliament. As we reported last week, we are looking at a Phase 2 that consists primarily of talks on legalizing the divorce issues and setting the foundations for a transition. This will be followed by a subsequent phase once the European Council releases its future relationship guidelines in March. However, with Donald Tusk…

UK Transport and Brexit News & Views No. 47

11/12/2017

Regina Garcia Nunez

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Mark’s Brexit Week for Transport This week saw the first real breakthrough in the Brexit negotiations. Having read the agreed text, I believe that we should certainly not overstate how much progress was achieved. We should rather take this as a surface-level agreement on ‘agreed truths’ devoid of any significant detail or commitment, which should just about see the negotiations scrape through to Phase 2. Under the stated caveat of “Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed”, claims of a major…

UK Transport and Brexit News & Views No. 44

20/11/2017

Regina Garcia Nunez

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Over the last few months, UKTiE has been campaigning to ensure the best possible Brexit deal for transport. While these negotiations are reaching a critical point with the upcoming December European Council meeting, over the next two weeks UKTiE will be looking to the future of European transport. On the 28th of November, we are hosting our 7th Annual UKTiE Forum in the European Parliament. There could not be a more opportune time to be discussing the future of European…