The European Parliament is ready to analyse and vote before the end of the year on a possible agreement on the future post-Brexit relationship, provided that it is reached by the evening of Sunday 20 December. It will no longer be in a position to ratify an agreement after this date.
This is the very clear message that the Conference of Presidents of the Parliament political groups (CoP) sent on Thursday 17 December to the EU and UK negotiators trying to reach a hard-won agreement.
EU negotiator Michel Barnier said via Twitter that “good progress” had been made, “but last stumbling blocks remain”, after meeting with MEPs. Fisheries are one of these obstacles.
In its statement, the CoP “welcomes efforts being made to avoid a no deal scenario, and the huge negative impact it would have on citizens and businesses” on both sides of the Channel, noting “the UK Government’s refusal to even consider extending the transition period” post-Brexit.
The political groups in Parliament say they are ready to “organise an extraordinary plenary session towards the end of December, in the event that an agreement is reached by midnight on Sunday 20 December, to allow the European Parliament to debate the outcome of the negotiations and consider giving its consent”. The Commission will therefore, in the event of agreement, “provide Parliament with a provisional text as soon as possible”, they stress.
MEPs also recall that the Commission has said that it “will always propose that provisional application of trade agreements take place only once the European Parliament has given its consent”.
To put it in layman’s terms, if an agreement is reached after 20 December, Parliament is indicating that it will no longer be able to give its consent and that on 1 January relations between the European Union and the United Kingdom will be based on WTO rules. In this case, contingency measures related to a ‘no deal’ situation will apply.
In recent weeks we have received a commitment from the Commission that it would not use the possibility of provisionally applying a possible EU-UK agreement without the consent of the European Parliament, “but I cannot say 100% that it will do so”, reacted S&D group chair Iratxe García Pérez . According to her, a plenary session would be held on 28 and 29 December if an agreement is reached by next Sunday at the latest.
See the statement: http://bit.ly/38esZJx
British withdrawal agreement operational on 1 January
On Thursday, Commission Vice-President responsible for inter-institutional relations, Maroš Šefčovič, reported positive progress on the implementation of the UK withdrawal agreement as of 1 January. This progress concerns citizens’ rights and the implementation of the respective residence rights, as well as social security rights. For Northern Ireland, progress has been made on agricultural subsidies and risk criteria for goods arriving from Great Britain.
Mr Šefčovič further welcomed London’s promises to preserve the Northern Ireland Protocol and to withdraw controversial provisions from the Internal Market and Finance Bills. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)