A LEGISLATIVE LOOK AT WHAT’S HAPPENING IN EUROPE
Court which was originally announced for 26th September has been postponed. The new date is yet to be confirmed. Quick reminder of the significance: If the court decides to take the Belgian view, resounding effects on the “governance” of gambling at EU level, but for other sectors as well, are to be expected.
New bricks of Brexit
The last weeks beginning of October haves been packed with two sets of negotiation rounds (4th & 5th) between the UK and EU-27 (all EU Member States minus UK). The 4th round, originally planned for mid-September was postponed. October is also the target month for the European Commission to move from the 1st phase of negotiations (the divorce settlement) and the move to the 2nd phase of negotiations: The temporary and permanent structures of EU-UK relations. The European Council which will bring together the leaders of the EU-27 will decide on 19-20th October whether sufficient progress has been made on the three themes to move onto the next phase. You may remember: (1) financial settlement, (2) the question of the island of Ireland and the border, and (3) EU citizen’s rights. Things are picking up pace, not in terms of
progress, but negotiation tactics. October could very well not see a move to the next phase. The next opportunity would be at the European Council meeting on 14-15 December in Brussels, but this will depend on the negotiation tactics of the UK and whether the EU-27 will remain united on their view that more needs to be done by the UK. So, what about the negotiation tactics? The UK feels it has conceded enough towards the EU-27 in terms of fulfilling their requests, most recently on the question of the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice over UK law. The Prime Minister, Theresa May decided to no longer rule out the court’s applicability in the UK during any Brexit transition period. Not a popular decision for many Brexiteers, as this is a key issue of sovereignty. It seems though that May is attempting to appease their voices by threatening the EU with a hard Brexit - a cold severance of ties between the two – if the EU does not provide concessions, such as moving
to Phase 2. What about EU-27 solidarity? Is it being
threatened? It seems pretty clear that Member States are copying the statement with varying degrees of dismay, incomprehensibility and fatigue: “UK is not making any progress.” “UK needs to make more progress.” “Why is the UK not making progress?” But, there are many reasons why a divide and conquer the EU-27 approach could be successful. This includes differences in trade volumes with the UK between the countries, or that some might see UK military assistance as more pertinent due to Russia. Will it be successful during Phase 1? Unlikely. Even the European Parliament in a non-binding report insisted that Phase 1 conditions need to be satisfied before moving on. This was supported by two UK Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) from May’s Conservative Party who were subsequently suspended. 18 UK MEPs from the opposing Labour Party had done the same.
What else?
The European project is constantly challenged, no surprise. Questions of the proper separation of state and judiciary are being raised with regard to Hungary and Poland. In Germany, the first far-right party (AfD) has entered the German Parliament (Bundestag), arguably since WWII. Catalunya is playing with the idea of leaving Spain which has already resulted in violence during, what was deemed, an illegal vote for independence. The Netherlands has finally agreed on a coalition between four (in many cases very) different parties, 208 days after the election. This is the backdrop against which President of the European Council Donald Tusk and President of the European Commission Jean- Claude Juncker are looking to pool the EU-27 leader’s views and will to reform Europe. The plan is to vote on the reforms the day after the anticipated Brexit separation deadline in March 2019.
Greetings from Brussels.
OCTOBER 2017 31
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