The delegation of employees and border traffic, including the current situation of Polish drivers on the UK border and after Brexit and the form of future relations between the European Union and Great Britain in connection with the lapse of the transitional period in EU–GB relations established pursuant to the Agreement for Great Britain's withdrawal from the European Union, which took place on 31st December 2020, were the main topics of the Tuesday meeting of Deputy Prime Minister Jarosław Gowin with the Ambassador of Great Britain in Poland Anna Clunes.

The issues of bilateral economic co-operation between Poland and Great Britain, including joint projects and the state of economy in view of the coronavirus pandemic, were brought up, too.

We hope that Great Britain remains one of the most important economic and trade partners of Poland and that our excellent co-operation is continued. We also hope for the quick and efficient ratification of the negotiated agreement to avoid a negative impact on our trade and economic relations during the launch of new solutions

- said the Deputy Prime Minister.

Minister Gowin stressed:

The economic relations of Poland and other EU countries with Great Britain have always been and will remain strong. We hope to work out an optimum co-operation framework that will help us develop and reinforce our co-operation in the future.

EU’s negotiations with Great Britain on economic co-operation

One of the main topics of the meeting were ongoing negotiations between the EU and Great Britain on the future trade agreement. If they are not finished before the end of the transitional Brexit period, i.e., before 1st January 2020, one of the scenarios being taken into account is that future relations between the EU and Great Britain will be similar to the “no-deal Brexit” – Great Britain's withdrawal from the EU without the withdrawal agreement. In such a scenario, economic relations between the EU and Great Britain would be based on the rules of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

This will involve such consequences as the introduction of customs duties, changes in the rules of settlement of VAT and excise tax, the need of entrepreneurs and exporters to adapt to British legislation and restrictions for transport companies. In this context, the issues of maintaining UK-EU road and transport connections and potential initial disruptions of smooth border traffic were brought up during the meeting.

Deputy Prime Minister Gowin brought up the issue of delegated employees in the UK after Brexit. He informed that the Polish parliament was proceeding with the act allowing employees from the UK delegated to work in Poland before the end of 2020 to apply for a special temporary residence permit for a period of 5 years, with the possibility of subsequent acquisition of a permanent residence period on special legal grounds.

Polish–British economic relations

Great Britain is one of Poland’s main economic partners. It is the 3rd recipient of Polish export and occupies the 8th place among foreign investors in Poland.

According to most recent data, Polish–British trade exchange had a relatively small decrease in 2020 in spite of the pandemic (during the period from January till October 2020, Polish export to Great Britain dropped by 8% y/y and the turnover of goods by 9%).

Great Britain is the second largest recipient of Polish food and agricultural products (behind Germany). Around 9% of Polish export from the food & agricultural sector is delivered to British shops.

The most important groups of commodities exported to Great Britain are products of the electro-engineering industry, food and agricultural products, chemical products, ceramic products and products of the wood & paper industry. The main exported goods include automatic data processing machines and devices, car parts and accessories, TV reception apparatuses, silver, passenger cars, furniture and heavy goods vehicles.

Polish–British co-operation projects

The Head of the Ministry of Development, Labour and Technology thanked the ambassador of Great Britain for her co-operation in preparing Polish entrepreneurs for Brexit. During the last few years, the ministry in co-operation with the embassy has provided information about the new British law and the consequences of Brexit. The embassy organised also webinars addressed to Polish entrepreneurs and available on brexit.gov.pl.

Among initiatives planned by the Ministry of Development, Labour and Technology for 2021 and entered into the Action Plan adopted by prime ministers of Poland and Great Britain there is the 3rd Polish–British Business Forum and the Polish–British Economic Strategic Dialogue.

Under the UK–Polish TechChallenge programme, Deputy Prime Minister Robert Tomanek took part in the opening event of the 1st Business Mixer at the beginning of December 2020; its continuation is planned in the 1st quarter of 2021.

The programme is based on associating Polish and British corporations with Polish and British MSEs (operating for not longer than 5 years) for the purpose of entering into mutual long-term co-operation. The aim of the programme is to strengthen Polish–British partnership for the development of innovative and modern economies and to increase the market potential of young companies functioning in the field of advanced technologies.