For now, cooperation is limited to information exchange and coordination of positions and priorities for major international meetings.
British Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt signed a cooperation agreement on financial services between the United Kingdom and the European Union on Tuesday, a step forward that testifies to the warming of relations across the Channel.
Mr Hunt signed the deal with EU Financial Services Commissioner Mairead McGuinness during the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s first visit to Brussels in three years.
He hailed it as “an important turning point” and considered it “not the end, but the beginning” of the enhanced dialogue with the EU.
Brussels and London had already reached such a deal in March 2021, but it was never signed due to disagreements over the application of post-Brexit trade deals in Northern Ireland.
“I think it’s fair to say we’ve turned a page in our relationship,” Ms McGuinness said.
Financial services, the engine of the UK economy, were worth £11,000 billion (€12,790 billion) in 2020, with 44% on behalf of international clients, including the EU.
For now, cooperation will be limited to the exchange of information and coordination of positions and priorities for key international meetings, a far cry from the “passport” or equalities originally expected by the sector before Brexit. European union.
The cooperation agreement signed on Tuesday “lays the foundations for a new era of cooperation with our partners in the EU,” Chris Hayward, policy director for the City of London, the organization promoting London’s financial district, responded in a press release. By extension one of the spokespersons of the department in the country.
This, he continued, “will enable UK financial services to re-engage in productive discussions with the EU, for the benefit of both our economies”.
The exit from the EU, which took effect in January 2021, took the form of a “hard” Brexit for financial services, while goods remained subject to a free trade agreement.
Relations between the EU and the UK have remained stable since the end of the “Windsor Framework” in early March, aimed at facilitating the movement of goods within the UK, without any physical border with Northern Ireland. market.
The UK is also seeking to rejoin the EU’s €96 billion Horizon Europe research programme.
Mr Hunt said the financial details were currently being negotiated. “We have good discussions, difficult discussions can be friendly discussions,” he added.
Ms McGuinness said she supported ‘further discussions’ to get to ‘a conclusion’.
British scientists fear the impact of a shortfall in funding under the Horizon programme, designed to fund scientific breakthroughs.
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