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New: Member states have been told by the European Commission that 95pc of the EU-UK future relationship treaty has been completed, but that wide gaps remain on the three key issues of the level playing field, governance and fisheries
2/ This came during a briefing of EU ambassadors this morning by the sec gen of the European Commission Ilze Juhansone, standing in for Michel Barnier
3/ Although 95pc complete, there are square brackets in key areas of the text, meaning bits that remain open and that are linked to an overall deal. These are in the field of energy, road haulage, aviation, rules of origin
4/ Several member states pressed strongly for emergency no deal contingency plans to be published
5/ On fisheries, the Commission is considering a review clause which would kick in after 5 to 10 years. The aspiration wd be that the review clause wd not just be for the quota/access arrangement but for the whole FTA deal
6/ This would ensure that fish remains linked to the wider FTA and that that leverage would still be there for the EU side. As far as I'm aware this is not an idea that has been formally tabled in the negs
7/ Another standout element of today's briefing is that officials are considering Provision Application of the agreement because time is diminishing so fast, ie that an agreement wd provisionally come into effect on Jan 1 but that all the ratification procedures wd happen after
8/ Those would include ratification by the European Parliament some time early in the new year - not clear yet how that will go down with MEPs.
9/ That also opens the Pandora's box of whether or not the agreement is "mixed" or "EU only". Mixed means a deal that touches on areas that are both exclusive EU competence and national competence
10/ Typically if it's mixed then all national (and some regional) parliaments will have to ratify (remember Wallonia and CETA?).
11/ However, it's more likely the EU could simply decide that even though the agreement is technically "mixed" it could be regarded as EU only. That would be done via attached declarations saying "due to unique circs..." etc, so it doesn't become a precedent for the future
12/ Even so, the genie is out of the bottle, and member states say they will now want to a proper debate on whether the deal is mixed or not - aviation is a national competence and member states wd have to sign it over to Brussels for the purposes of the deal if it's EU only
13/ On LPF, the UK is still resisting any autonomous retaliation clauses. The EU wants this so that if the UK diverges from joint standards in environment, employment law, climate change etc then it can swiftly retaliate
14/ However, on state aid it's understood the two sides are getting "closer and closer" on joint principles
