Tuesday

19th Mar 2024

Federalist Verhofstadt to join top table in Brexit talks

  • The former Belgian PM in full swing at the EU parliament (Photo: europarl.europa.eu)

The European Parliament has picked Belgian federalist Guy Verhofstadt to speak for it in the upcoming Brexit negotiations.

The decision, announced by EP political chiefs on Wednesday (8 Thursday), prompted a slight dip in the value of the British pound amid speculation that he will take a hard line.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

The 63-year old former Belgian prime minister, who advocates the creation of a US-type federal state in Europe, will join Michel Barnier, a French former EU commissionner, who is to represent the European Commission, and who has a history of antagonism with the City of London.

Didier Seeuws, a younger Belgian official, will represent the EU Council.

An EU source told EUobserver that the two main EP groups, the centre-right EPP and the centre-left S&D, endorsed Verhofstadt, a liberal, because they liked his handling of pre-referendum UK talks.

“He had a good rapport with [former British PM] Cameron during the negotiations on special status. They disagreed on several issues, but they had the same, plain-speaking style”, the source said.

The UK, prior to holding the referendum in June, had negotiated “special” derogations from EU law.

The EU source added that the liberal Alde group was in line for a top job because the EPP and S&D had dominated other high EU posts.

For his part, Philippe Lamberts, a Belgian MEP who co-chairs the Green group, said Verhofstadt had been chosen by EP leaders because he was a former PM who knew how the EU Council operated and because he was a “convinced European, even if I disagree with him on other issues".

The Brexit talks are expected to start early next year and to revolve around access to the UK for EU workers and access to the single market for British firms.

The EU exit negotiations, the first in history, are uncharted waters.

They will be dominated by member states, but the EP says it has power of co-decision on the new international treaty that is to govern issues such as EU-UK trade.

It also says it has to give “consent,” a majority vote, on a separate treaty enacting the UK’s EU exit, as well as on a third document - a new edition of the EU treaty with all the references to the UK cut out.

“The European Parliament will need to approve a possible agreement on the conditions for the UK’s departure from the EU”, Verhostadt’s group said on Thursday.

It said he would “help prepare the EP position in the [Brexit] negotiations, in close consultation” with other political chiefs and with relevant committees, such as the constitutional affairs committee.

The EU source said no one knows yet what the Brexit talks will look like.

The contact said initial negotiations are likely to take place in the EU Council building between the 28 sherpas (senior aides) from member states, and a delegation from the EU Council’s legal services.

“The legal services will tell us what’s possible and what’s not possible on technical issues,” the source said.

He said the big questions would be decided at a “higher political level”, with the EU triumvirate - Barnier-Seeuws-Verhofstadt - involved.

Brexit may not happen, EU top judge says

The EU's most senior judge has cast doubt on whether the UK will really leave the EU, while adding that it was never a fully-fledged member in the first place.

MEPs positive on Brexit deal, but with provisos

'A lot of the requests that the parliament has put forward, been achieved in the negotiations,' said Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament's 'point man' on Brexit.

Opinion

Potential legal avenues to prosecute Navalny's killers

The UN could launch an independent international investigation into Navalny's killing, akin to investigation I conducted on Jamal Khashoggi's assassination, or on Navalny's Novichok poisoning, in my role as special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, writes the secretary-general of Amnesty International.

Latest News

  1. Borrell: 'Israel provoking famine', urges more aid access
  2. Europol: Israel-Gaza galvanising Jihadist recruitment in Europe
  3. EU to agree Israeli-settler blacklist, Borrell says
  4. EU ministers keen to use Russian profits for Ukraine ammo
  5. Call to change EIB defence spending rules hits scepticism
  6. Potential legal avenues to prosecute Navalny's killers
  7. EU summit, Gaza, Ukraine, reforms in focus this WEEK
  8. The present and future dystopia of political micro-targeting ads

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us