The EU-UK withdrawal agreement: Progress to date and remaining difficulties

With the United Kingdom set to leave the European Union in less than one year's time (29 March 2018), negotiations to finalise a withdrawal agreement, as provided for under Article 50 TEU, were coming up against an increasingly tight deadline. Recent progress in agreeing a number of key 'exit' issues prompted the decision to begin discussions on the future EU-UK relationship.

However, significant challenges still remained before the conclusion of a withdrawal agreement, on which the transition period requested by the UK also depended.

This EPRS In-depth Analysis considered the draft withdrawal agreement published by the European Commission on 19 March 2018, as well as the (few) additional points settled in negotiations in the period up to June 2018. It sought to provide an overview of the main areas already settled by the negotiators, as well as of those areas of persisting difficulty or disagreement.

• Primary Source

European Parliament: European Parliamentary Research Service: In-Depth Analysis, July 2018: The EU-UK withdrawal agreement: Progress to date and remaining difficulties http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/IDAN/2018/625110/EPRS_IDA(2018)625110_EN.pdf

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