The State of the European Union 2017

THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

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the Single Market, to head the Commission’s

team.

Barnier has put together a taskforce of

experts to handle the talks, is holding regular

meetings with heads of state and heads of gov-

ernment, and has organised two technical sem-

inars with the aim of defining the EU’s posi-

tion.

Meanwhile, the Conference of Presidents

of the European Parliament has appointed the

leader of the Liberal group, Verhofstadt, as the

parliament’s point man.

Since November, the European Council has

been preparing the general guidelines required

by the Treaty. There have now been several

meetings between the Sherpas and President

Tusk to establish a joint position, while heads of

state or government representing the EU-27

held informal discussions at the European

Council Summits in December 2016 and 3

February 2017.

At their December meeting, the 27 adopted

a set of procedural decisions which clarify insti-

tutional roles with respect to the negotiation.

In accordance with the Treaty, the European

Council will provide political leadership and will

be responsible for defining the overall position

once notification of withdrawal has been re-

ceived. Procedural decisions and guidelines on

the content of negotiations will be taken by the

General Affairs Council, thereby assigning a role

to the rotating Presidency. The European Council

has invited the General Affairs Council to ap-

point the Commission and its representative

European Commission:

Minutes of the 2179th meeting

of the Commission,

Brussels, 27 July 2016, (PV(2016) 2179

final), p. 14.

Barnier, M.:

Press Briefing,

6 December 2016. Available at:

https://ec.europa.eu/unitedkingdom/news/first-press-con

ference-michel-barnier_en.

Informal meeting of the Heads of State or Government

of 27 Member States, as well as the Presidents of the Eu-

ropean Council and the European Commission,

Brussels, 15

December 2016.

Barnier as chief negotiator, but has specified

that the negotiating team must include a repre-

sentative of the rotating Presidency. The nego-

tiations will also include representatives of the

Presidency of the European Council, in a sup-

porting role. As is normally the case in negotia-

tions with third parties, the Commission will be

controlled by a Working Group made up of rep-

resentatives of the 27.

A surprising aspect of the European Council

decision is the meagre role reserved for the

Parliament. It will not be represented at the ne-

gotiating table, and is instead relegated to the

role of observer. However, its representative has

been invited to participate in the Sherpa meet-

ings that will prepare the European Council

meetings, its President will be invited to address

the European Council meetings, and both the

Commission and the rotating Presidency have

been asked to keep the Parliament informed

and to exchange points of view. In light of the

fact that the Parliament must approve the final

agreement, its scant participation in the actual

negotiation process seems anomalous, and the

Parliament has made the European Council

aware of its views in this regard, going so far as

to warn that such exclusion could have grave

consequences.

As we have seen, article 50 is very brief and

raises more questions than it answers. One issue

not addressed in the Treaty but which is of

prime importance is whether there are any red

lines with respect to the contents of the nego-

tiations or whether all options are potentially

open. In particular, it is unclear whether with-

drawal can be an unrestricted process of consti-

tutional change or whether there are certain

European Parliament: “Grave consequences if Parliament

is all but excluded from EU Brexit talks”,

Press Release,

December 2016, (Ref. 20161214IPR56183).