EU Parliament to vote on Brexit resolution next week

Further details have emerged of the tough line the European Parliament is expected to take in the upcoming Brexit talks.

Further details have emerged of the tough line the European Parliament is expected to take in the upcoming Brexit talks | Photo credit: Press Association

By Martin Banks

Martin Banks is a senior reporter at the Parliament Magazine

31 Mar 2017


These are contained in a motion MEPs are expected to approve by a big majority in a vote during next week's plenary in Strasbourg.

Key clauses of the motion give a flavour of the hard stance being adopted by the assembly which must sign off any agreement between the EU and UK.

One clause says MEPs will "expect sincere cooperation from the UK in negotiations on EU legislation in other policy areas until it leaves."

They warn that bilateral agreements between the UK and one or more remaining EU countries "would be in breach of the EU treaties."

It goes on to state that any agreement would require "continued respect by the UK of EU standards in the fields of the environment, climate change, fighting tax evasion and avoidance, fair competition, trade and social policy.

"An orderly exit is an absolute requirement and a precondition for any potential future EU-UK partnership. This is not negotiable. The privilege of Union membership comes with responsibilities and these responsibilities mean guaranteeing the four freedoms," says Parliament.

The document amounts to a draft of the conditions, or red lines, for a final approval by parliament of any withdrawal agreement with the UK.

They are partly in line with those outlined on Friday by European Council President Donald Tusk, who made it clear the UK would have to resolve its divorce arrangements - the bill it has to pay to the EU before withdrawing -before talks on trade and other issues can commence.

The motion also says that "it would be against EU law for the UK to begin negotiations on possible trade agreements with third countries before it has left the EU."

The parliamentary motion goes on to say that a "future relationship agreement can only be concluded once the UK has actually left the EU and a transitional arrangement may not last longer than three years."

MEPs, in the motion, agree that talks can start on possible transitional arrangements based on plans for the future relationship between the EU and the UK, but only if and when good progress has been made towards the withdrawal agreement. 

The same terminology was used by Tusk when he outlined the EU's negotiating guidelines in Malta on Friday.

The EU's draft guidelines detailed by Tusk will now be discussed among the 'sherpas' of the 27 remaining EU member states, with a view to EU27 leaders formally adopting them at their extraordinary summit on April 29.

Parliament's ECR group leader, Syed Kamall, said the UK should respond with "polite persistence" to the draft guidelines. 

"We were always going to be starting with talks about talks. Tusk calls for a phased approach. That makes complete sense - but that does not mean phases should not overlap or progress in tandem, either officially or unofficially. 

"I am confident that as well as the terms of our separation, we will soon be discussing other key issues too such as trade and security. They are too important to ignore for long. This is the start of a long process. Sometimes there will be encouragement and sometimes attempts to pre-condition our expectations, but we would be wise to treat each with caution and polite persistence."

Vincenzo Scarpetta, of Open Europe, a think tank that campaigns for reform of the EU, said, "Tusk is a man of his word. He promised he would have a first draft of the Brexit negotiating guidelines for the 27 remaining EU member states ready within 48 hours from the moment the UK triggered article 50 - and he delivered. Overall, the document reads as anything but punitive.

"They are subject to change, but after reading them I am more optimistic about the prospect of a good deal - for the UK and the rest of the EU."

 

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