Parliamentarians in Brexit talks: bulls in a china shop?

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Series Details February 2017
Publication Date 01/02/2017
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Parliamentarians in Westminster and in the European Parliament will have to ratify the final withdrawal agreement between the EU-27 and the UK. MEPs have in the past used their veto in international negotiations when the European Commission and the member-states have not involved them properly in the negotiation process. However, threatening to vote down the final withdrawal deal just to make a point about inter-institutional co-operation could undermine the European Parliament’s public standing. EU citizens expect MEPs to focus on addressing their problems rather than on playing power games. On the UK side, the British government has promised that Westminster would exercise the same level of scrutiny in the exit talks as the European Parliament. But it may argue that it cannot reveal its negotiating position to parliamentarians, lest it undermines its bargaining hand. However, there are ways to reconcile the confidentiality of negotiations with parliamentary scrutiny, and the British government should not keep Westminster in the dark about the progress of the exit talks

Source Link Link to Main Source http://www.cer.org.uk
Related Links
ESO: Background information: Parliament appoints Guy Verhofstadt as representative on Brexit matters http://www.europeansources.info/record/parliament-appoints-guy-verhofstadt-as-representative-on-brexit-matters/
UK: Parliament: Parliamentary Business: News, 22.11.16: Brexit - what role should Parliament play? http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/lords-select/constitution-committee/news-parliament-2015/article50-debate/

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