Ahmet Gürhan Kartal
09 October 2017•Update: 10 October 2017
By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal
LONDON
The U.K. should have an "implementation period" when it leaves the EU in March 2019, Prime Minister Theresa May said Monday in a speech to parliament.
May said neither the U.K. nor the EU will be ready for the new arrangement and the U.K. wants this transition period -- the length of which could reach two years -- to avoid changes that would prove too abrupt for the business community.
The U.K. wants a “creative” model for the future and the government rejects the idea of a model already in existence, such as Britain’s being in the European Economic Area (EAA) or having a trade deal like Canada’s, May said in a statement at the parliament, which coincided with the start of the fifth round of the Brexit negotiations.
May called for a "unique and ambitious economic partnership" with the EU after Brexit.
The prime minister told MPs "progress will not always be smooth" but the U.K. can "prove the doomsayers wrong".
Following her Florence speech last month, in which she gave assurances on payments to the EU and citizens' rights, she said "the ball is in their [EU’s] court".
“And as we look forward to the next stage, the ball is in their court. But I am optimistic we will receive a positive response,” May said, in response to an EU Commission spokesman’s earlier remarks that the ball was in the U.K.’s court.
- 'Not exactly a ball game'
“Because what we are seeking is not just the best possible deal for us but also the best possible deal for our European friends too,“ May added.
"This is not exactly a ball game. There’s a clear sequencing of these talks and there’s been so far no solution found on step one, which is the divorce proceedings, so the ball is entirely in the U.K. court for the rest to happen," the EU Commission’s chief spokesman Margaritis Schinas said over May’s parliament statement, which was made available to MPs and the media.
The U.K. has insisted that the Brexit negotiations had reached a stage where sufficient progress had been made to take the talks to the second stage where the future relationship arrangements between the U.K. and the EU could be discussed.
However, the EU leaders said upon the completion of the fourth round of negotiations last month, that the progress was not yet enough to take to negotiations further, but praised May’s Florence speech, describing it as a step forward.
Meanwhile, the opposition Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn criticized the Conservative government for the lack of progress in Brexit negotiations saying it was “staggering that after eight months of triggering article 50 the government has made so little progress”.
Ian Blackford, the parliament leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), also criticized May’s statement for failing to mention the intention of staying in the single European market and the customs union.
Meanwhile, the SNP leader and the Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said earlier on Monday that the process of leaving the EU had left the U.K. "engulfed in chaos".
Describing Brexit as a “developing disaster”, Sturgeon said the case for Scottish independence was becoming stronger by the day as a result. She, however, added that she would not set a new referendum date for independence until there is greater clarity on Brexit.
The fifth round of Brexit negotiations will conclude Thursday after dealing with key issues such as citizens’ rights, financial commitments, and other separation issues such as the future border arrangements between the Northern Ireland and Ireland.
The U.K. is expected to leave the EU in March 2019, after its 44-year membership to the bloc.
