More than one year ago the UK public voted for the UK to leave the EU. With the Article 50 process being triggered in March, the two-year Brexit negotiation process is now well underway. AFME has argued consistently that during the negotiation process, market efficiency and financial stability must be safeguarded. The Brexit negotiations are taking place under significant time pressure with the UK’s membership of the EU due to end on 29 March 2019. Faced with no clarity on the future relationship between the EU and the UK, market participants are having to take important decisions amid considerable uncertainty.

In light of this, AFME and others have consistently made the case for transitional arrangements following the Article 50 negotiation period. This note is intended to explain in more detail the importance and necessity of transitional arrangements as well as summarise our views on what such arrangements should look like.

While we believe that transitional arrangements are essential, we share the view of the European Council that they must be clearly defined, limited in time, and subject to effective enforcement mechanisms. We also recognise the EU27’s prioritisation of matters to ensure an orderly withdrawal and the core principles set out in the Council Guidelines including the integrity of the single market. We believe that transitional arrangements are necessary to support these objectives of an orderly withdrawal, ensuring financial stability and the prosperity of both the EU27 and the UK. We urge the negotiators to progress with reaching agreement on the items under discussion in phase one of the negotiations in order to be able to move to discussing transitional arrangements as soon as possible.