Introduction

brexit-fact-base-london — Photo by Alexandros Michailidis/Shutterstock

This section describes the negotiations for the future relationship between the UK and the EU during the transition period. They began on 1 February 2020 after the UK left the EU on 31 January 2020 with 47 years of EU membership.

This transition period lasted at least until 31 December 2020. Until then, it was business as usual for citizens, consumers, businesses, investors, students and researchers in both the EU and the UK. (The WA sets out the exact terms of the transition period.)

The starting point for the negotiations was the joint Political Declaration (PD), published in October 2019. The PD’s long list of contents showed how wide-ranging and complex the negotiations were. The new partnership would have five main components:

Institutional arrangements
Economic partnership
Security partnership
Basis for participation in programmes (e.g. Erasmus, Horizon Europe)
EU autonomous measures (e.g. granting of equivalence)

In February 2020, the EU and the UK published their separate negotiation objectives. The negotiations began in March, with a high-level review of progress on 15 June. Several deadlines (for example for fisheries and financial-services regulatory equivalence) were missed and negotiations continued up to the last minute.

In parallel with the negotiations, the UK and the EU had to implement the legally-binding Withdrawal Agreement covering citizens’ rights, financial settlement, Ireland/Northern Ireland, etc. The section on Implementing the WA covers these key events.

Until 31 December 2020, the threat of ‘no deal’ was ever present, save for the provisions in the Withdrawal Agreement. Indeed, some observers believed ‘no deal’ was the likely outcome. The Brexit FactBase section on no deal describes what could have happened if the negotiations had failed.