BRUSSELS – In the results published on Wednesday morning, the European Parliament voted by a large margin for the European Union to finally approve a Brexit agreement, which is already fraught with difficulties, complaints and judicial contestation.
The vote was 660 votes in favor, five against and 32 abstentions.
While the outcome was never really in doubt, Parliament raised serious concerns about the trustworthiness of the current UK government in carrying out in good faith the two key Brexit documents: the withdrawal agreement and the trade and cooperation agreement that has just been approved.
The latter agreement, which regulates trade and customs issues and does not provide for tariffs or quotas, has been applied since the beginning of the year under certain conditions. It was completed on Christmas Eve and ratified by the UK Parliament on December 30th. However, a negative vote by the European Parliament would have killed it and produced the “No Deal Brexit”, which neither side supported.
The European Parliament had postponed its vote to protest the UK’s dealings with Northern Ireland and the protocol that governs trade on the divided island. The UK’s actions are the source of a legal complaint filed by the European Commission, the bloc’s executive branch, after the UK unilaterally extended the grace period for failing to carry out controls on goods moving between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.
The two sides have not yet found a common basis for implementing the Northern Ireland Protocol, which aims to protect the internal market while avoiding a hard border with Ireland, a member of the European Union.
Suspicion ran through the debate. Christophe Hansen, a key Brexit legislator from Luxembourg, said a positive vote “should not be seen as a blank check to the UK government or a blind vote of confidence that it will implement the agreements between us in good faith, but it is over from our point of view more of an insurance policy. “
The trade and cooperation agreement, said Hansen, “will help us remind the UK of the commitments it has signed.”
Terry Reintke, a German Green lawmaker, said: “This deal is not a good one because Brexit is not a good one. The situation is also complicated because we cannot be sure how trustworthy the UK government really is. Still, this agreement can be a starting point to reconstruct what we lost with Brexit. “
Manfred Weber, a German who heads the largest party group, the center-right European People’s Party, has published it bluntly on Twitter. “We will vote for the TCA after Brexit,” he wrote, referring to the trade deal. “But we’re concerned about implementation because we don’t trust Boris Johnson’s administration.”
Many concerns have been expressed that the UK is abusing or undermining the complex rules governing fishing rights and the Northern Ireland Protocol.
David McAllister, a German lawmaker who is half Scottish, said some of the problems encountered so far were due to teething problems, but others were due to the type of Brexit Britain chose for itself, an increasing divergence from the European Union will mean internal market. This alone requires continuous discussion and the processing of areas that are excluded from the Brexit agreement, including financial services and foreign and security policy.
Brussels is determined to work on practical solutions between Northern Ireland, Ireland and mainland Britain. “But the protocol isn’t the problem, it’s the solution. The problem is called Brexit. “
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, urged Parliament to ratify the agreement and promised that Brussels would use the dispute and enforcement mechanisms of the agreement to ensure UK compliance. If not, she said, she would not hesitate to impose punitive tariffs.
“The deal is tied to real teeth – with a binding dispute settlement mechanism and the possibility of unilateral corrective action if necessary,” she said. “We don’t want to have to use these tools. But we won’t hesitate to use them if necessary. “
Dissatisfied with Great Britain, Parliament had postponed ratification twice. However, conditional transposition would have expired at the end of April and Parliament eventually cast its vote.
After nearly five hours of debate on Tuesday, lawmakers, many of whom were in virtual attendance, voted remotely, with final totals not being released until Wednesday morning.
Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator with Great Britain, thanked the legislators for their diligence. He praised the deal but warned: “Everyone must take responsibility and respect what they have signed.”
But he summed up the feelings of many when he said: “This is a divorce, a warning and a failure, a failure of the European Union and we must learn from it.”
Ratification would mark a new chapter in relations with Britain, good or bad, said Ms. von der Leyen. She hoped that this would constitute “the basis of a strong and close partnership based on our common interests and values”.
The UK voted to leave the European Union in a referendum in June 2016 almost five years ago. The complications of Brexit and the ongoing struggles over its implementation have not least contributed to the discussion in the rest of the European Union about a similar outcome.
Monika Pronczuk contributed to the reporting.
