Letter on the Current State of Preparation for Brexit
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Letter of 7 September 2018 from the Minister of Foreign Affairs to the House of Representatives on the current state of preparation for Brexit (contingency planning and preparedness at national and EU level) Overview of the current state of contingency planning and preparedness in regard to Brexit The Dutch government, Dutch business and Dutch citizens in the UK must all prepare themselves for the withdrawal of the UK from the EU (preparedness), including planning for the possibility of the UK leaving the EU without a Withdrawal Agreement − the cliff edge or no-deal scenario (contingency planning). This letter informs the House of Representatives about these preparations at EU and national level. I. Approach to contingency planning and preparedness at EU level At the start of this year the European Commission (‘the Commission’) began mapping the consequences of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU in all areas to which EU legislation applies. As part of that process it identified two types of measures: preparedness measures, being those that will need to be taken as a result of the withdrawal of the UK from the EU − whether or not the EU and UK reach a Withdrawal Agreement − and contingency measures, being measures required to prepare for the possibility of the UK leaving the EU without a Withdrawal Agreement (cliff edge scenario) on 30 March 2019. The work is being coordinated by a specially formed preparedness team within the Secretariat-General of the European Commission. On 19 July 2018 the Commission published a Communication1 about the preparations that need to be made for the UK’s withdrawal from the EU on 30 March 2019. One of the key messages of the Communication is that both businesses – including small and medium- sized enterprises – and professionals need to make preparations for the departure of the UK from the EU. The Commission has made relevant information available by publishing notices to stakeholders and by organising technical expert seminars with member states. At the 1 Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the European Council, the Council, the European Central Bank, the European Economic and Social Committee, the Committee of the Regions and the European Investment Bank - Preparing for the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union on 30 March 2019 (COM/2018/556 final/2). AVT18/BZ126685B 1 same time, the Commission states that the Communication has no effect on negotiations regarding the withdrawal of the UK from the EU, and that these negotiations will continue in the hope that the European Council will give its approval to both the Withdrawal Agreement – including a transitional period up to 31 December 2020 – and the Political Declaration on the framework of future relations. After that the Council of the European Union, the European Parliament and the UK parliament must all ratify the Withdrawal Agreement in accordance with the relevant procedures. In its Communication the Commission explains that it is preparing for the departure of the UK from the EU in three ways: 1. Drawing up and distributing notices to stakeholders: the Commission has now published 68 such notices. Depending on the progress of negotiations, the Commission intends to draw up more of these notices in regard, for example, to travel to and from the UK and the availability of medicines. A number of European agencies have also published information about the consequences of the departure of the UK from the EU. Web pages specially set up for this purpose on the European Commission’s website provide links to all the available information.2 2. Legislative changes: the Commission has also identified which EU legislation requires amendment as a result of the withdrawal of the UK from the EU. The provisional outcome is a list of eight legislative proposals, six of which have already been published.3 This number is smaller than originally identified by the Commission because it became apparent that, in many cases, it can amend existing EU legislation by means of delegated and executive acts, and because many references to the UK in EU legislation will become irrelevant after the UK’s departure and can, if necessary, be amended at a later stage. 3. Practical measures: these relate mainly to the relocation of the EU agencies the European Banking Authority (EBA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) from the UK to other member states and to internal matters such as the disconnection and adaptation of certain IT systems and other platforms for communication and information exchange, to which the UK will no longer have access as a third country, as well as to areas such as transport and customs, where measures such as workforce increases will only be put in place if necessitated by the progress of the negotiations. 2 https://ec.europa.eu/info/brexit/brexit-preparedness/preparedness-notices_en 3 https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/brexit-legislative-preparedness-proposals.pdf AVT18/BZ126685B 2 The EU member states, in varying compositions, are also talking to each other about the preparations that need to be made at national level to prepare for the departure of the UK from the EU, and for a cliff edge scenario. The Commission and Council Secretariat are currently mapping the progress of such preparations at national level in the various member states. The Netherlands welcomes and supports the above ongoing initiatives, with a view to cushioning − as far as possible collectively − the negative impacts of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. On 23 August 2018 the UK published the first 24 of a total of over 80 notices (technical notices) informing citizens and businesses about the options for preparing for a scenario in which the UK leaves the EU on 30 March 2019 without a Withdrawal Agreement (cliff edge scenario). The government is encouraged that the UK government is making serious preparations for a cliff edge scenario. II. Approach to contingency planning and preparedness at national level Dutch central government bodies affected by Brexit, including its executive services, agencies and autonomous administrative bodies (ZBOs), are taking preparedness measures in preparation for the withdrawal of the UK from the EU, both for the scenario in which the EU and the UK reach agreement on a Withdrawal Agreement (preparedness) and for the cliff edge scenario in which the UK leaves the EU on 30 March 2019 without an agreement (contingency measures). The House was recently informed about these preparatory measures in a number of policy areas.4 A private technical briefing will also follow on 10 October 2018. The preparations being made by government bodies can be broken down into the following categories: organisation, communication, legislation and policy/implementation. A related question is what crisis management plan the government has in mind to deal with a cliff edge scenario. This letter does not deal specifically with that question; the private technical 4 Parliamentary Papers II 2017-2018, 23987, nos. 225, 227, 228, 231, 249; Parliamentary Papers II 2017-2018, Proceedings of the House of Representatives, Appendix no. 1643, Parliamentary Papers II 2017-2018, 21501-31, no. 489; Parliamentary Papers II 2017-2018, Proceedings of the House of Representatives, Appendix no. 2946 and the letter from the Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, shortly to be debated in the House in regard to the motion submitted by MPs Mustafa Amhaouch and Hayke Veldman (in which the House requests the government to make maximum efforts in Europe to ensure that fresh products can continue to be exported to the UK with as little delay as possible after Brexit). AVT18/BZ126685B 3 briefing on 10 October 2018 will provide us with an opportunity to inform the House about this matter. A. Organisation The Minister of Foreign Affairs has a coordination role and is supported in contingency planning and preparedness by the Contingency Planning and Preparedness Coordination Unit (CECP). The CECP was set up under the responsibility of the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation and the Minister of Foreign Affairs in order to coordinate preparations on cross-ministry issues, by both government authorities and business, for the effects of Brexit on the Netherlands. To that end it also organises periodic consultations with the business community. The purpose of these consultations is to create an opportunity to identify difficulties and find practical, workable solutions, initially focusing on cooperation in supply and value chains and logistical and spatial planning tasks in and around mainports (seaports and airports). B. Communication The government is actively informing public authorities, the general public, businesses and civil society organisations about the consequences of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU and the risk of a cliff edge scenario. Communication to the various target groups will be stepped up as the withdrawal of the UK from the EU approaches. The government will do its utmost to minimise all foreseeable impacts but it is inevitable that the cliff edge scenario in particular will result in disruption and difficulties. It is therefore imperative that public authorities, the public, businesses and civil society organisations remain aware of their own responsibility to make the best preparations they can for all possible scenarios. Not all contingency planning and preparedness solutions can be provided by the national government. The government is making efforts to provide citizens of the UK (British citizens) in the Netherlands and Dutch citizens in the UK with as much information as possible about the potential consequences of the withdrawal of the UK from the EU.5 They can find information on the effects of the UK’s withdrawal for people in their situation on the websites of the national government (Government.nl), the Brexit desk (www.brexitloket.nl), the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) (ind.nl) and the Dutch embassy in London.