25 July 2017

Guy Verhofstadt: Brexit talks must make progress on all fronts before next phase

The European Parliament’s Brexit coordinator says MEPs will do their own assessment of ‘sufficient progress’ in negotiations before they can move on to talks about a future trade relationship.

The Parliament will conduct its own assessment of whether the talks have made “sufficient progress” and can therefore move on to the next phase ahead of the European Council’s official assessment in October. Its evaluation will not be binding and so cannot hold up the talks, but it is designed to put pressure on the U.K. over its financial settlement, the rights of EU citizens living in the U.K. and the Irish border.

“The European Parliament cannot be clear enough that sufficient progress means progress across the board, and not just in one or two areas,” Verhofstadt said. “The European Parliament will formally and in due time indicate when the point of ‘sufficient progress’ has been reached.”

“We can only start talking about a new EU-U.K. relationship if sufficient progress has been achieved in the three main withdrawal areas: citizens’ rights, the financial settlement and the border issue on the island of Ireland.”

Verhofstadt’s comments followed a meeting with Michel Barnier, the European Commission’s chief negotiator on Brexit, who came to the Parliament to brief its Brexit steering group on the first round of substantial negotiations, which were held last week. The Parliament has recently set up a Brexit steering group, which includes members of its administration and a group of cross-party MEPs to “coordinate and prepare Parliament’s deliberations, considerations and resolutions on the U.K.’s withdrawal from the EU.” [...]

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