Statement by Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič | 28 September 2020 | Brussels Good afternoon everyone! We have just concluded our third meeting of the Joint Committee on the implementation and application of the Withdrawal Agreement. Our main message was on the much-needed acceleration of the implementation work to prepare for the 1st January 2021 and on the need to ensure a full, timely and effective implementation of the Withdrawal Agreement. Much work remains to be done before the transition period ends in...

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s securities markets regulator, has updated two statements on its approach to the application of key provisions of MiFID II/MiFIR and the Benchmark Regulation (BMR). The Impact of Brexit on MiFID II/MiFIR The Impact of Brexit on the BMR Today’s statements update previous ones issued in March 2019 and October 2019 reflecting ESMA’s approach, should the UK have left the EU under a no-deal Brexit. However, as the Withdrawal Agreement entered into force on 1...

The European Commission has today sent the United Kingdom a letter of formal notice for breaching its obligations under the Withdrawal Agreement. This marks the beginning of a formal infringement process against the United Kingdom. It has one month to reply to today's letter. Article 5 of the Withdrawal Agreement states that the European Union and the United Kingdom must take all appropriate measures to ensure the fulfilment of the obligations arising from the Withdrawal Agreement, and that they must...

The European Commission has today adopted a time-limited decision to give financial market participants 18 months to reduce their exposure to UK central counterparties (CCPs). A CCP is an entity that reduces systemic risk and enhances financial stability by standing between the two counterparties in a derivatives contract (i.e. acting as buyer to the seller and seller to the buyer of risk). A CCP's main purpose is to manage the risk that could arise if one of the counterparties defaults...

The United Kingdom withdrew from the European Union on 1 February 2020. The two sides are now negotiating what form future relations will take. Here is the most important information. What has happened since 1 February 2020? A Withdrawal Agreement was negotiated before the UK left the EU in order to ensure that the main political and economic links between the EU and the UK were not severed from one day to the next upon departure. This Agreement has been in...

It is increasingly likely that, unless things change, on 1 January 2021, we will have a no deal Brexit. The only agreement between the EU and the UK would then be the already ratified Withdrawal Agreement. There are only 50 working days left in which to make a broader agreement. The consequences of a failure to do so for Ireland will be as profound, and even as  long lasting, that those of Covid 19. A failure to reach an EU/UK Agreement...