The 27 Member States of the European Union have approved the mandate for negotiations with the United Kingdom on a new trade agreement. With that text, the European Commission can start negotiations next week.
The European Union wants an ambitious agreement with the British but under precise conditions. The question is whether the British government will accept it.
Now that the British have officially left the European Union, it is time for the second phase of the Brexit: to reach an agreement on how the United Kingdom and the European Union want to work together in the future. In the first place, it is about trade.
In the coming months, the British and the European Union will mainly negotiate a new trade agreement. According to European rules, it is the European Commission that is responsible for such negotiations. The Frenchman Michel Barnier will lead the European negotiating team.
Barnier will conduct these negotiations according to pre-established guidelines: the negotiating mandate. At the beginning of February, Barnier already proposed a draft mandate.
It was already clear at that time that the European Commission wanted to go for an ambitious trade agreement, with as few as possible or even no rates (a tax on imported goods and products) and quotas (a limit on how much can be imported).
Today, that negotiating mandate was officially approved by the 27 ministers of European Affairs.