The European Parliament’s Steering Board on the orderly exit of the United Kingdom from the EU recalled on Tuesday 12 November that the rights of European and British citizens remained “the European Parliament’s priority”, during a review of the withdrawal agreement validated by London and the Twenty-Seven in mid-October, with several parliamentary committees (LIBE, EMPL, JURI and AFCO).
In particular, members want to examine: – the granting of provisional and permanent resident status; – the independence of the independent supervisory authority; – the possible consequences for EU citizens who do not apply for permanent residence within the prescribed time limits; and – measures to address the issue of vulnerable citizens.
At a hearing held after this review in the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, many elected representatives first noted the European Parliament’s current wait-and-see attitude, which hangs on the British elections on 12 December and the ratification of the draft agreement that might follow.
But some of these same elected representatives did not hide their wish that this electoral moment would lead to a change of majority and that the country would remain in the EU. This is the wish expressed by Pascal Durand (Renew Europe, France), according to whom we must continue to show “solidarity” with all those in the United Kingdom who are fighting to keep the country in the EU.
On the exit agreement itself, Parliament coordinator for Brexit, Guy Verhofstadt (Renew Europe, Belgium) considered it to be “a copy and paste of the previous agreement” negotiated with the previous government under Mrs May, with the exception of the solution found on Northern Ireland and the customs regime. While this withdrawal agreement is acceptable, the Belgian expressed his disappointment with the less ambitious political declaration than the one agreed with Mrs May, which referred in particular to a post-Brexit association agreement between the EU and the United Kingdom. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)