MEPs expressed their concerns about the EU-UK trade agreement to the European Commission at the European Parliament’s Trade Committee meeting on Monday 11 January. While welcoming the conclusion of the agreement and its broad substance, they reiterated their disappointment at not having had the opportunity to consider the text before its provisional application.
To rectify the situation, there was broad support for a greater role for the European and British Parliaments in the implementation of the agreement.
MEP Heidi Hautala (Greens/EFA, Sweden) said, “Democratic oversight of the Partnership Council must be taken seriously. How could Parliament ensure this? I believe that we must be firm on this matter, and I would like to see a point of action mentioned in the resolution on this subject”.
The Partnership Council is indeed the competent body for the supervision of the agreement. From the conservative right to the European United Left, MEPs have all spoken out in favour of, on the one hand, giving the Parliament sufficient time to examine the text and, on the other, giving it a greater role in monitoring the negotiated agreement.
Daniel Caspary (EPP, Germany) asked, for example, to receive more technical reports during the examination phase of the text, involving experts from outside the institutions. He was joined by the rapporteur on the agreement, Christophe Hansen (EPP, Luxembourg), who felt he had not had the answers to all his questions during the two-hour exchange of views with the Commission.
Some, like Helmut Scholz (GUE/NGL, Germany), are even concerned that elements of the agreement will be decided and added after ratification by Parliament. This could be the case for financial services, which is to be the subject of a memorandum of understanding in the coming months.
On the implementation of the agreement, several MEPs, including the Chair of Committee on International Trade, Bernd Lange (S&D, Germany), would like to have their say in the arbitration system. “It seems to me that the selection of arbitrators on arbitration panels should be within the power of the European Parliament”, he said.
However, according to Antonio Fernández-Martos, from the European Commission, arbitration must take place on a legal basis and without political intervention. “Therefore, I don’t think there is a formal role for the European Parliament in this case”, he said.
The agreement provides for the Partnership Council to draw up the list of experts mobilised for the arbitration tribunals. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)