On Thursday 15 April, the Committee on International Trade (INTA) and the Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) approved – by 108 votes to 1 and 4 abstentions – the draft Trade and Cooperation Agreement signed at the end of December with the United Kingdom, which provisionally entered into force on 1 January, while the European Parliament formally ratifies the negotiations.
For Bernd Lange (S&D, Germany), the Chair of INTA, the moment was clearly “historic, because it is a vote on a member country’s departure” as he said before the joint committee vote was taken.
Andreas Schieder (S&D, Austria), who is replacing Dutch MEP Kati Piri on this dossier, said “Brexit is a historic mistake, but now we have to establish a solid basis for our future relationship”. And with “today’s decision, we welcome the provisions that bind the UK to our current high labour and environmental standards”.
The agreement, which covers fisheries, free trade without quotas and tariffs, as well as economic, energy and internal security cooperation, also includes a number of provisions on fair competition standards (see EUROPE 12628/6). “As imperfect as it may be, it has mitigated the worst of the Brexit effects”, commented Luxembourg’s Christophe Hansen (EPP) on behalf of the INTA Committee. Economic Brexit caused “real disruption”, he added.
However, Chair of the AFET, David McAllister (EPP, Germany), again deplored London’s refusal to negotiate a new chapter in foreign and defence policy with the EU.
Fears over Northern Ireland
On Thursday, MEPs also expressed their concerns that progress made with the trade agreement “will be undone if the UK continues to unilaterally breach the withdrawal agreement and the Northern Ireland protocol”, said Andreas Schieder.
“There is lot of talk of mistrust at the moment, especially about the lack of desire to implement the necessary measures in Northern Ireland”, emphasised Bernd Lange, noting that the European Parliament had not yet set a clear date for final ratification, “because we want a clear commitment to the Northern Ireland protocol” and “we need to receive a solid message from the European Commission that it will be respected, otherwise we will have difficulties with the vote in plenary”.
The Luxembourg rapporteur, Christophe Hansen, noted that London had already violated the principles of the protocol on two occasions.
The European Parliament will decide next week whether to put this vote on the agenda of the 26-29 April plenary, since the provisional application period for the agreement ends on 30 April. If there is a vote, it will support the message in favour of a political resolution. The European Parliament will therefore closely observe the outcome of the meeting that was due to take place on Thursday evening, 15 April, between Maroš Šefčovič and David Frost on implementing the Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)