The new relationship between the EU and the UK begins, provided an agreement has been reached, approved by the EU Member States, the European Parliament and the British Parliament. The Northern Ireland Protocol, known as the Irish Backstop, was an annex to the November 2018 draft agreement outlining provisions to avoid a hard border in Ireland after the UK`s withdrawal from the European Union. The protocol provided for a provision of the safety net to deal with the circumstances in which satisfactory alternative arrangements were to come into force at the end of the transition period. This project has been replaced by a new protocol that will be described as follows. The most important elements of the draft agreement are: [21] “I think the money is falling, but negotiations are underway to ensure that these last disagreements are finally resolved.” On 22 October 2019, the House of Commons agreed, by 329 votes to 299, to give a second reading to the revised withdrawal agreement (negotiated by Boris Johnson earlier this month), but when the accelerated timetable it had proposed did not receive the necessary parliamentary support, Johnson announced that the law would be overturned. [38] [12] In 2019, the Prime Minister hailed as a success the new revised agreement on the UK`s withdrawal from the EU, reached after close negotiations with Ireland. It contributed to the re-election of Johnson`s Conservative government and was quickly ratified by the British and European parliaments, which facilitated the UK`s belated exit from the EU in January 2020. The reception of the agreement in the House of Commons ranged from cold to hostile, and the vote was delayed by more than a month. Prime Minister May has received a motion of no confidence within her own party, but the EU has refused to accept further changes.
As of 1 January 2021, the UK will no longer be part of the internal market or customs union. Even if an agreement on future relations is reached by the end of the year, the EU`s relationship with the UK will change radically and will be very different from those of the UNITED Kingdom, which was a member of the single market. Take, for example, the customs and tax formalities that will then be necessary. Like the EU Member States, citizens and businesses in Germany and the EU as a whole must adapt to these consequences of the end of the transition period, whether or not an agreement is reached on the future partnership with the UK. The UK left the EU on 31 January 2020 at midnight (23:00 GMT). A transitional period is now in effect until 31 December 2020. During this period, all EU laws and regulations continue to apply in the UK. For businesses and the public, virtually nothing will change. This will give everyone more time to prepare for the new agreements that the EU and the UK intend to conclude after 31 December 2020.