Withdrawal Agreement and Political Declaration ~ Materials

Some of the materials available to assist with the Withdrawal Agreement and Political Declaration.  Lists to be updated if new material is published - see Additions below.

The Withdrawal Agreement and Political Declaration were published on 25 November:

Draft Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community, as agreed at negotiators' level on 14 November 2018

Draft Political Declaration and see Government Statement

White Paper - Legislating for the Withdrawal Agreement

The government has published a White Paper on Legislating for the EU Withdrawal Agreement and it is available via the Department for Exiting the EU website - 44 pages pdf.

Chapter 5 of the white paper sets out Procedures for approval and implementation of the withdrawal agreement and framework for the future relationship.

There are two statutory procedures to be followed

CJEU to hear preliminary reference on whether Article 50 may be revoked

Today, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) will sit en banc to hear argument in a preliminary reference from Scotland's Court of Session.  The Scottish court made the reference in Wightman and others v Secretary of State for Exiting the EU [2018] CSIH 62 - Lord Carloway (Lord President) and Lords Menzies and Drummond Young.  The CJEU Case number is C-621/18.

An attempt to stop the reference was made by the UK government but this was rejected by the UK Supreme Court on 20 November - see HERE  

The reference asks the CJEU to determine whether unilateral revocation of the Article 50 notice is permissible under EU law.

25 November 2018 ~ EU endorses Withdrawal Agreement and Political Declaration

"Ahead of us is the difficult process of ratification as well as further negotiations. But regardless of how it will all end, one thing is certain: we will remain friends until the end of days, and one day longer" - Statement by EU Council President Donald Tusk 25 November 2018.

On 22 January 1972, at the Egmont Palace in Brussels, Prime Minister Edward Heath signed the Treaty of Accession taking the United Kingdom into the European Communities with effect from 1 January 1973.  Denmark and Ireland also acceded to the communities at the same time.  Norway had participated in the accession negotiations but did not join as a result of an adverse national referendum.  Norway also rejected membership in 1994.

At the time,

Brexit - Overview of the draft Political Declaration 22 November

A draft Political Declaration (PD) has been agreed at negotiator level - see Department of Exiting the EU.

The outline declaration published on 14 November 2018 is now just part of the history of the Brexit-story - see this previous post.

The Prime Minister's statement to the House of Commons (22 November) may be read HERE and the ensuing debate HERE.

Status of the Declaration:

Draft Withdrawal Agreement - November 2018 - No.9 - Protocol on Northern Ireland

This post looks at the Protocol for Northern Ireland which is in the draft withdrawal agreement.  The post also completes my overview of the draft agreement.  Links to all previous posts are at the end of this post.

The Protocol is at pages 302 to 475 of the agreement.  It contains 21 Articles and 10 Annexes.

The EU has issued an explainer specific to the Northern Ireland protocol - HERE.  It is in the form of Questions and Answers and is a clear exposition of the situation.  For convenience, I have reproduced it in this post.  The UK government has also issued an Explainer of the draft agreement - HERE - together with a shorter explainer related to Article 6 to 8 in the Protocol.

Draft Withdrawal Agreement - November 2018 - No.8 - Protocol on the Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus

The United Kingdom operates two "sovereign bases" in Cyprus - Akrotiri and Dhekelia.   Earlier this year, a Parliamentary Select Committee noted - "The situation on Cyprus is further complicated by the existence of two Sovereign Base Areas (SBAs) on the island, remnants of its pre-1960 status as a UK Crown Colony. The Bases are British Overseas Territories administered by the Ministry of Defence, which are not part of the European Union.  Dhekelia — also known as the Eastern Sovereign Base Area or ESBA — straddles the Green Line and contains two crossing points for movements of goods and people between the two parts of Cyprus."

Whilst the bases