The Conference of Presidents of the Political Groups (CoP) of the European Parliament could decide on Wednesday 13 January whether to bring forward or maintain the ratification date of the EU/UK agreement currently scheduled for March, a European Parliament source said on Monday 11 January.
The Trade and Cooperation Agreement provides for provisional application until 28 February, unless another deadline is agreed by both parties.
The European Parliament may therefore have to vote before 28 February. The date of 23 February was also raised on Monday by the president of the Committee on Fisheries, Pierre Karleskind (Renew Europe, France) (see other news). In December, the CoP had extended the timetable to March to allow sufficient time for review (see EUROPE 12628/6).
Voting on 28 February would require an extraordinary plenary, which is not so simple, said another source.
In any case, the sectoral examination of the agreement signed with London began in parliamentary committees on 11 January. Each committee will have to submit an opinion in the form of a letter to the two competent committees, the International Trade (INTA) and Foreign Affairs (AFET) committees, which will draw up a joint report. The European Parliament will accompany its assent with a resolution.
“I regret that there has been no ratification in due form”, Luxembourg MEP Christophe Hansens (EPP) commented on Monday during a debate in the INTA committee (see other news). “But it was also a UK strategy”, he added, as the UK government had not enabled the British Parliament to study the bilateral agreement in detail.
The European Parliament wants to examine the text carefully and provisional implementation without prior ratification of the FTA by MEPs can in no way constitute a precedent, the Luxembourger reiterated. The setting of the ratification deadline by the European Parliament, “either at the end of February or in mid-March”, however depends on London’s agreement, within the joint partnership council, Mr Hansens also recalled. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic with Léa Marchal and Lionel Changeur)