July 30, 2018

The European Parliament’s Brexit Steering Group (BSG) has been briefed on recent negotiations with the UK Government.

On the Withdrawal Agreement, the BSG reiterates its position that a successful agreement providing for the UK’s orderly withdrawal from the EU is an essential precondition for negotiating a future deep and special partnership between the EU and the UK, a negotiation that can only take place once the UK is no longer a Member State. Further, the transitional arrangements can only come into force as part of the Withdrawal Agreement.

Further, the BSG says that it “will accept no backsliding from past commitments”, notably those entered into in the Joint Report of 8 December 2017. To conclude the Withdrawal Agreement it is essential, the BSG says, in particular, that it includes a “backstop” for the Northern Ireland/Ireland border. The BSG recalls the Prime Minister’s letter to President Tusk of 19 March 2018, in which she said that the “backstop” must avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland, protect the Good Friday Agreement and safeguard the integrity of the single market, customs union and common commercial policy. The BSG says that the backstop “remains specific to the unique circumstances of the island of Ireland” and, in accordance with the terms of Article 50, cannot establish the terms of the future relationship between the European Union and the United Kingdom.

The BSG says that it is “incumbent on the UK that it no longer postpone coming forward with its own, workable and legally operative proposal for a “backstop””. The BSG stresses that without a credible, genuine and operational “backstop” it will be impossible for the European Parliament to give its consent to the Withdrawal Agreement.

As for the future EU-UK relationship, the BSG recalls its longstanding support for the closest possible trade, economic and security partnership, in the form of an Association Agreement, compatible with the principles on the future relationship as set out in European Parliament resolutions, namely the non-divisibility of the four freedoms, the integrity of the single market, the autonomy of the EU legal order and decision making, the safeguarding of financial stability and the need to respect a proper balance of rights and obligations. To read the European Parliament’s statement in full, click here.