European Parliament demands Brexit talks role as it picks president
Brussels' legislative branch wants "full participation" in exit talks as part of a deal struck to elect its new President.
Tuesday 17 January 2017 11:29, UK
The European Parliament will demand full participation in Brexit negotiations as part of a deal struck to secure the Presidency for the Italian MEP Antonio Tajani.
The centre right European People's Party candidate and long-time adviser to former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi is likely to win having reached an agreement with liberal Guy Verhofstadt.
As part of that deal Mr Tajani has agreed that the Parliament's Brexit resolution, to be drafted after Article 50 notification is triggered, will insist in full participation in the Brexit negotiations.
"Both groups will act to ensure the full involvement of the European Parliament in the Brexit negotiations so that the interests of the European citizens are fully taken on board," the agreement between the pair said.
"The European Parliament resolution will clearly indicate that the presence of the Parliament (besides the Council) in the EU negotiations delegation is a pre-condition for the consent procedure."
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Under Article 50 the Parliament's only official role is to vote on any EU-UK deal.
In theory this means they could veto that deal.
Parliament has longed called for a more prominent say in the actual negotiations, however this has been rebuffed by the EU Council, which is taking the lead.
Today's demand of "full participation" is likely to complicate those Brexit talks because even if the Parliament, made up of 751 MEPs, is not given a formal role, it is clear their views will have to be taken into consideration.
Throughout most of the Parliament's history, the EPP and the Progressive Alliance of Socialists & Democrats have rotated the presidency under a "grand coalition".
However, that arrangement has recently fallen apart amid disagreements over who should succeed Martin Schulz, who is returning to domestic German politics after nearly five years as EU legislative leader.