Thread by @jonworth

The European Parliament is not taking #Brexit scrutiny nearly seriously enough

You your approach is shamefully poor
@davidmcallister
@berndlange
@ManfredWeber
@CHansenEU
@KatiPiri
@NathalieLoiseau
@ph_lamberts

🇪🇺 citizens deserve better, not least those in 🇮🇪

An angry 🧵

1/25

Let's not forget that when the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement was finally sorted on 24 Dec, it was provisionally applied - allowing the EP to do its scrutiny this spring

2/25

Provisional application was extended from the initial end of February deadline until the end of April

That's 2️⃣2️⃣ days from now

3/25

On 4 March the EP decided to not set a date for the plenary vote for ratification of the TCA, but the end of April deadline still applies

theguardian.com/politics/2021/…

4/25

What has happened since - with regard to scrutiny?

5/25

Meanwhile in Northern Ireland...

cnn.com/2021/04/07/eur…

6/25

And maybe a little reminder of the wider politics here wouldn't go amiss...

bbc.com/news/uk-northe…

7/25

Perhaps a little jig of the memory of what MEPs have said until now would be handy, starting with you @davidmcallister

Do we no longer need the pragmatic, solution driven approach?

https://twitter.com/davidmcallister/status/1371453225363251203

8/25

Do you @davidmcallister stand by these words of 24 December?

https://twitter.com/davidmcallister/status/1342127810341691395

9/25

You also described the UK unilateral action as "unhelpful", @davidmcallister

I presume it was unhelpful in a manner specific and limited enough to explain your silence since?

https://twitter.com/davidmcallister/status/1367495041325928451

10/25

And you, @berndlange - you described the UK unilateral action as a "very aggressive act"

But not aggressive enough to mean you wanted to do better scrutiny of the TCA?

https://twitter.com/berndlange/status/1367212734547394561

11/25

You also talked about "sharpening additions" @berndlange

Where are they, dare I ask?

https://twitter.com/berndlange/status/1348548122318954497

12/25

And @ManfredWeber - how's getting "to work to scrutinise the deal" coming along?

https://twitter.com/ManfredWeber/status/1342125220077969408

13/25

How about the people and the businesses to whom you owe good scrutiny, @manfredweber ?

https://twitter.com/ManfredWeber/status/1339517298374270980

14/25

And you'd think @CHansenEU as rapporteur for this from AFET - probably one of the most important dossiers you'll ever get, Christophe - you might have a little more to say than this?

https://twitter.com/CHansenEU/status/1342131641779630085

15/25

Although that's more than INTA Committee Rapporteur @katipiri can do as she's left the EP altogether and has been elected to the Dutch national parliament 🤷‍♂️

https://twitter.com/KatiPiri/status/1376967013415849985

16/25

Meanwhile @NathalieLoiseau - who ought to be kicking up a stink for Renew - just sounds off once in a while on French TV about it

@ph_lamberts says nothing, and I'd expect better from someone from my party on this

Only @schirdewan gets it right - he's active at least!

17/25

What can we find out meanwhile from EP meeting agendas and documents?

Well, not very much...

18/25

The OEIL dossier is here, still with Piri listed as INTA Rapporteur

It says the vote is provisionally scheduled for 26 April plenary, but *pending committee votes*

oeil.secure.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/fi…

19/25

So what about committee votes?

AFET has its next meeting 12-13 April, and there's nothing about Brexit on the agenda, and no further committee scheduled

PDF agenda 👇
redmapl3.europarl.europa.eu/RedmapFront/me…

20/25

INTA has a 14-15 April meeting scheduled, and there are 3 Brexit issues on the agenda - but they *all* concern GATT and Brexit, none of them concern the TCA

PDF agenda 👇
redmapl3.europarl.europa.eu/RedmapFront/me…

21/25

So - to recap - we have pretty much no recent comment in public from any of the relevant MEPs, no committee debates scheduled in the 2 main committees, and no confirmed plenary vote scheduled *either*

With 22 days to go

22/25

There are 3 options:
- approve the TCA by end of April, having not done any extra scrutiny
- ask to extend Provisional Application, having not used the extra time already granted
- not approve, and get No Deal

Yeah, because all of those are a *great* look for the EP! 🎉

23/25

And sure, Brexit is not number 1 issue for the EP right now. I get that

But this body to represent the citizens of the EU seems to care more about the norm values in widget manufacture than it does about the ratification of a major treaty with its nearest neighbour!

25/25

What the HELL is going on?

25/25