Yahoo Finance Brexit 'punishment clause' is removed from transition text
Brussels has removed the controversial “punishment clause” from the text of the draft Brexit transition document.
The clause indicated the UK could lose access to elements of the single market if it broke EU rules during the two-year transition period.
But, according to the BBC, it has now emerged that eurocrats have revisited the text and will draft a softer version.
It followed a meeting on Wednesday where officials from 27 EU nations discussed an updated withdrawal agreement, which should be published at the end of the month.
The original “punishment clause” sparked angry reactions among leading Eurosceptic MPs – piling yet more pressure on prime minister Theresa May.
Tory poster boy Jacob Rees-Mogg described the clause as “unacceptable” and even Remainers said the text was a step too far.
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Labour MP Chuka Umunna claimed a transition period was beginning to look “less like building a bridge and more like being made to walk the plank”.
The EU’s Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, has warned the transition period – due to kick in after March next year – is “not a given” since “substantial” disagreements remain on issues, such as freedom of movement and customs procedures on the Irish border.
But, there has been talk that his hardline stance will need to soften for any progress to be made.
Boris Johnson, the UK foreign secretary, said on Wednesday that it would be “intolerable and undemocratic” if the UK was subject to EU laws after Brexit.
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The punishment plan proposed restrictions on single market benefits as a remedy if the European Commission determined it would take too long to take Britain to the EU’s court to settle a dispute.
“The Governance and Dispute Settlement Part of the Withdrawal Agreement should provide for a mechanism allowing the Union to suspend certain benefits deriving for the UK from participation in the internal market where it considers that referring the matter to Court of Justice of the EU would not bring in appropriate time the necessary remedies,” the footnote said.
