Brexit made important progress last week as the United Kingdom and the European Union agreed on several key issues, a deal that allows negotiators to turn their attention to the critical question of the final trade relationship between the two. The "deal" is not legally binding, however, and could yet unravel. Still, it is a breakthrough for Brexit and a milestone in this historic process.
It took six months for the two sides to reach agreement on three preliminary, but nevertheless critical, issues: the rights of EU citizens in the U.K., the financial settlement that London would pay upon departure, and the status of the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The European Commission called the 15-page document a "gentlemen's agreement," a status that leaves the door open to some flexibility in its terms. Both sides insist, however, that any changes could be fatal to an eventual deal.
One million British citizens live in the EU and approximately 3.5 million EU citizens lived in the U.K. at the time of Brexit. Both sides want their citizens to continue to enjoy the full range of rights that they currently enjoy under EU law. That is easier said than done, as the European Court of Justice (ECJ) is the guarantor of those rights and one of the avowed aims of Brexit was ending the influence of EU institutions in Britain. The two sides agreed on a compromise whereby British courts will take ECJ case law into account when it adjudicates cases and they will retain for eight years the option to ask the ECJ for interpretation of relevant law — but if a court asks for help, it must follow the ECJ ruling. This theory will ensure consistency in the application of the law.