If a deal is agreed in the next days, the UK Parliament will be given only 1 day to approve it.

At 1,000 pages, there's no way MPs will be able to read it before voting on it.

But in any event, under UK law Johnson doesn't even need to ask MPs. He can ratify an FTA on his own.
Though parliamentary approval of a free trade deal isn't required by UK law, it is required by EU law.

The European Parliament has said it's now too late for them to approve before 1 Jan. To do so would be a "dereliction of democratic duty" MEPs say.
However, it appears that EU parliament can be bypassed for a *provisional* approval, which would only need assent of the 27 EU national governments in the Council.

But that only buys some time. Deal would eventually need approval by EP and probably also 27 national parliaments.
These past months have shown that in some ways the European Union has much more democratic scrutiny than the United Kingdom.

As an American, I find it incredible that an FTA can be ratified by the UK prime minister without even consulting the parliament. blogs.sussex.ac.uk/uktpo/2020/09/…

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Dave Keating

Dave Keating Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @DaveKeating

22 Dec
Breaking: EU Commission recommends countries drop all UK travel bans, including on freight.

It looks like they have concluded that Johnson may have been exaggerating the threat posed by the English mutation. ec.europa.eu/commission/pre…
Commission: “Until the end of December, free movement rules still apply to the UK. This means that Member States should not in principle refuse the entry of persons travelling from the UK.”

In other words, EU countries legally cannot ban entry to Brits until 1 January.
I would expect an announcement from Paris shortly that they are ending the UK freight ban.
Read 6 tweets
20 Dec
Right now there is confusion in Europe about whether this new variant in the UK cited by Johnson as the reason for cancelling Christmas is actually a significant danger, or being used as political cover to reverse course on the UK's planned Christmas lockdown easing.
But given the urgency with which Johnson described the mutant strain yesterday, European governments aren't taking any chances.

Several countries including Belgium and the Netherlands have banned trains and flights coming from the UK, with immediate effect.
But before fears about this new strain run out of control and EU countries start shutting internal borders again, people need to listen to the experts about whether this new strain actually poses a threat.

Because there's no doubt that it's already in continental Europe.
Read 12 tweets
12 Dec
#Brexit update: Anything could happen tomorrow, but my guess is nothing will happen.

Talks are continuing as we speak, but there's no phone call or announcement scheduled for tomorrow's "deadline".

It's possible we end tomorrow with no news.
Like all the past deadlines (June, Oct), they've simply said that on Sunday they'll assess 'whether enough progress has been made to continue talks'.

When each deadline came they've said 'we've made some small progress so let's continue'. That may happen again tomorrow.
But if they decide to continue, surely at this point those talks will be only a charade.

Neither side wants to be seen as the one walking away from the table. Johnson flirted with it in October, then chickened out.

Talks will technically continue but #NoDeal will be assured.
Read 4 tweets
12 Dec
UK government now saying that if the EU doesn't give Britain a deal in the next 2 days, they will send gunboats to protect their fish from French fishermen.

Expect the threats to get even wilder in the coming days. This is what panic looks like.
More on exactly what the UK government said here.

They knew exactly what headlines this wording would generate.
Among #NoDealBrexit contingency measures triggered by the EU Commission Thursday is a request to UK for continued reciprocal access by EU & UK vessels to each other's waters.

Without it there is a risk of sea violence in the English Channel in January.
ec.europa.eu/commission/pre…
Read 4 tweets
11 Dec
Exactly how long of a reprieve does this "explanatory declaration" grant Hungary & Poland from being subject to #RuleOfLaw mechanism?

Nobody knows. Some lawyers saying 2 years. EU Justice Commissioner saying only a few months.
The (rather predictable) response to #EUBudget compromise from 🇭🇺: "Hungary and Poland claimed a historic victory in the #RuleOfLaw negotiations".

In reality, the mechanism has remained intact. Application may or may not be delayed up to 2 years, depending on legal developments. Image
Belgian PM @alexanderdecroo says an urgent procedure could be used to avoid delays in the ECJ ruling.

The courts are "impartial" he says. “I do not think that it is a victory of one over the other, this is just a good way going forward.”
Read 4 tweets
11 Dec
After all-night negotiations on the EU’s raised 2030 climate target (finally just adopted), a *very* short update on #Brexit is now happening.

Squeezed in at the last moment at 8am. These leaders are not changing their red lines.
An EU official says the #EUCO #Brexit update was indeed brief and that "the probability of a no deal is higher than of a deal".

Negotiations will resume today.
President @vonderleyen on #Brexit: "On level playing field we have repeatedly made clear to our UK partners that the principal of fair competition is a precondition to privileged access to the EU market. It is the largest single market in the world and it’s only fair." Image
Read 6 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!