EU, UK remain committed to post-Brexit agreement

The European Union and United Kingdom have reaffirmed their commitment to implementing the Windsor Framework, the February agreement to guide relations after Brexit.

Led by Maros Sefcovic, the European Commission’s vice-president in charge of interinstitutional relations, and James Cleverly, the British foreign secretary, the EU-UK Withdrawal Joint Committee held a meeting on Monday.

Sefcovic and Cleverly also opened the two-day working session of the EU-UK Parliamentary Partnership Assembly, a platform meant to ensure cooperation between EU and British lawmakers.

Sefcovic reaffirmed that “the EU and the UK are close and like-minded partners,” saying the Windsor framework put “our relationship on a more positive trajectory."

The pact concluded a dispute over post-Brexit trading arrangements for Northern Ireland, the British territory that shares a border with Ireland, with the aim of unlocking UK access to EU programmes.

For his part, Cleverly reaffirmed that together with the EU, his government is “fully committed to the full implementation of the agreement.”

"We have seen real progress and I'm committed to maintaining that positive trajectory," he said.

Special trade regime

Addressing the joint committee, EU official Sefcovic also stressed that the bloc will keep working on ensuring “the full protections of citizen’s rights under the withdrawal agreement.”

At the same time, he underlined that the Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the UK and EU “can never be a replacement for EU membership, so it can no longer be as frictionless as dynamic as before.”

Cleverly said the two sides "have to recognise that we will not agree on everything. But in mature relationships, we can deal with differences, whilst making the most of the areas where we agree."

The EU and the UK had been in a dispute for years over the application of the Northern Ireland Protocol of the Brexit agreement, which established a special trade regime.

The UK left the EU after 47 years of membership on January 31, 2020.