The European Parliament adopted, by 556 votes to 62,
with 68 abstentions, a resolution on the state of play of
negotiations with the United Kingdom.
The text adopted in plenary was tabled by the EPP,
S&D, ALDE, GUE/NGL, Greens/EFA groups.
Parliament welcomed the joint progress report
presented by the EU and UK negotiators. The resolution confirmed
that sufficient progress has been made and that the negotiations
may move on to the second phase.
However, negotiations can only progress during the
second phase if the UK government fully respects the commitments it
gave in the Joint Report and fully translates them into the draft
Withdrawal Agreement.
Accepted citizens’ rights: the UK has accepted that:
- all EU citizens legally residing in the UK and UK
nationals legally residing in an EU-27 Member State, and their
respective family members at the time of withdrawal, will enjoy the
full set of rights as established in EU law and interpreted by the
Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), based on protections
which will be set out in the Withdrawal Agreement;
- citizens’ core family members and persons in a
durable relationship with them currently residing outside the host
state will be protected by the Withdrawal Agreement and that this
will also be the case for children born in the future and outside
the host state;
- the continuation of citizens’ rights will be
guaranteed for a lifetime through a proportionate procedure, which
will be subject to proper safeguards, in accordance with EU law
concepts. This procedure and these safeguards will be set out in
the Withdrawal Agreement;
- administrative procedures will be transparent, smooth
and streamlined;
- all relevant rights based on EU law will be
safeguarded and will be set out in detail in the Withdrawal
Agreement;
- all social security rights under EU law will be
maintained. This includes the export of all exportable
benefits;
- the citizens’ rights’ provisions of the
Withdrawal Agreement will be incorporated into a specific UK legal
act so that these rights will have direct effect;
- that with regard to Ireland/Northern Ireland, the UK
has made the requisite commitments to ensure that there is no
hardening of the border, by means of regulatory
alignment.
Outstanding issues: once
finalised, the Withdrawal Agreement needs to be set out in a clear
and unambiguous legal text. The resolution noted five
outstanding issues to be resolved in order to win
Parliament’s consent to the final
agreement:
- extending coverage of citizens’ rights to future
partners;
- ensuring that the administrative procedure is
light-touch, declaratory in nature and free of charge, placing the
burden of proof on the UK authorities to challenge the declaration,
and enabling families to initiate the procedure by means of a
single form;
- providing for the binding character of the CJEU
decisions in relation to the interpretation of citizens’
rights provisions, as well as for the role of the future
independent national authority (ombudsman) created to act on
citizens’ complaints;
- guaranteeing future free movement rights across the
whole EU for UK citizens currently resident in an EU-27 Member
State;
- the UK’s commitments on Northern Ireland must be
implemented.
Framework for a future EU-UK
relationship: according to
Parliament, the shape of future relations, to be discussed in the
second phase, should be based on sound and unambiguous principles
and could take the form of an EU-UK association agreement covering
trade, internal security, and foreign policy.
Transitional
arrangements: transitional
arrangements ensuring legal certainty and continuity can only be
agreed if they contain the right balance of rights and obligations,
are limited in time, not exceeding three years, and consist
of the prolongation of the EU acquis, including rights of citizens,
thereby requiring that the existing EU regulatory, budgetary,
supervisory, judicial and enforcement instruments and structures
continue to apply to the UK.