♤ On 23 June 2016 citizens of the United Kingdom (UK) voted in a referendum to leave the European Union (EU). On 29 March 2017 the UK formally notified the European Council of its intention to leave the EU by triggering of Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty. It is scheduled to depart at 11pm UK time on Friday 29 March, 2019

♤ For the time being, the United Kingdom remains a full member of the EU and rights and obligations continue to fully apply in and to the UK.

♤ The UK and EU are negotiating on the "divorce" issues of:The first phase of negotiations focussed on:

o issues related to citizens' rights

o the financial settlement

o the Northern Irish border

o other separation issues

5.3.1. 2nd Phase of Negotiations

On 29 January 2018, EU27 ministers adopted a new set of negotiating directives giving details on the EU27 position on the transition period. The main points are:

♤ the proposed end date for the transition period in the negotiating directives is 31 December 2020

♤ during the transition period the whole of the EU acquis will continue to apply to the UK as if it were a member state, and any changes to it would also apply in the UK

♤ the UK will remain bound by the obligations stemming from the agreements concluded by the EU, while it will no longer participate in any bodies set up by those agreements

♤ the UK, as already a third country, will no longer participate in the institutions and the decision- making of the EU

♤ all existing EU regulatory, budgetary, supervisory, judiciary and enforcement instruments and structures will also apply, including the competence of the Court of Justice of the European Union.

♤ Predictions of immediate doom were wrong, with the UK economy estimated to have grown 1.8% in 2016, second only to Germany's 1.9% among the world's G7 leading industrialised nations. The UK economy has continued to grow at almost the same rate in 2017.