The European Parliament is satisfied with the draft withdrawal agreement of the United Kingdom from the European Union and political declaration on the future relationship between the EU and the UK approved on Sunday 25 November in Brussels by the EU Twenty-Seven and the British Prime Minister, Mrs Theresa May (see EUROPE 12145).
But the main political groups and the members of the Parliament’s Brexit Steering Group have also promised to be vigilant regarding implementation and some aspects of both the withdrawal agreement and the declaration, including the way the dispute resolution committee operates - as the chairman of the committee, Guy Verhofstadt of Belgium, said - or non-regression clauses relating to social, fiscal or environmental matters, said Philippe Lamberts, Belgian co-president of the Greens/EFA.
Earlier, on Thursday 29 November, MEPs heard the EU's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, present the two texts. He stressed that this was a "serious and important” moment. "The time for negotiations is over, now it is time for ratification", he told MEPs, reminding them of the "extreme complexity" of the divorce package on the table, which is “the only deal and the best deal possible”.
British MPs are due to vote on the package on 11 December. If MPs fail to ratify the agreement, some commentators believe that a second vote could still take place, if the margin of votes rejecting it is reasonably low, but a clear victory for opponents of the deal could complicate the assumption regarding a second vote.
Meanwhile, a number of MEPs stressed on Thursday that Brexit remains a sad event and a bad deal for both sides, but "especially for the British”, said German EPP MEP Elmar Brok, who used the statistics released this week by the Bank of England that conclude that the country will be poorer after leaving the EU, in all possible scenarios, with losses ranging from 2.9% of GDP over 15 years to over 9% in the event of a no-deal Brexit. The German MEP believes that this is therefore a “take it or leave it" deal; the dangerous temptation to suggest that the United Kingdom could get a better agreement if the current deal is not ratified in Parliament on 11 December must also be resisted. The MEP also called on his British counterparts to stop making inaccurate statements about matters such as the Irish backstop, which he said should, in theory, never come into force.
UKIP MEP Nigel Farage, who was responsible, with others, for the successful outcome in the referendum of 23 June 2016, congratulated the EU for reaching such a wonderful agreement, “the worst deal in the United Kingdom’s history”. He predicted that it would clearly be rejected by the British Parliament, and by quite a large margin, he argued. The EU must therefore realise that a no-deal Brexit on 30 March next year is entirely “possible”.
Parliament is due - if all goes well - to give its approval at the beginning of next year. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)