BRITISH MEPs : DON’T COUNT THEM OUT YET !

Britain has one of the biggest national delegations and its members are represented in a range of political groupings in Parliament.

The UK will retain full EU membership rights for two years while the terms of its departure are negotiated. As long as the UK is a member of the EU it will be entitled to 73 seats in the European Parliament of 751. Currently, six British MEPs serve as Chairs or Vice-Chairs on European parliament committees (Development; Internal Market and Consumer Protection; and Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs.

British MEPs currently sit in several political groups:

• 22 UKIP MEPs sit in the eurosceptic Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFDD) group;
• 1 Ulster Unionist Party MEP
• 20 Conservative MEPs sit in the European Conservatives and Reformists(ECR) group;
• 20 Labour MEPs sit with the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group;
• 6 British MEPs (from the Greens, Scottish Nationalists, and Plaid Cymru) are in the Greens/European Free Alliance(G/EFA);
• 1 Lib Dem MEP is in the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE);
• 1 Sinn Fein MEP is in the European United Left/Nordic Green Left (EUL/NGL);
• 1 independent MEP sits in the radical right Europe of Nations and Freedom (ENF) group; and
• 1 Democratic Unionist Party MEP is not attached to any group.

In theory, Britain’s vote to leave changes nothing in the short-term. The UK remains a full member of the European Union with the rights and obligations that go with it. In reality, however, everything is in flux. According to the EU treaties, MEPs are elected to represent the whole EU citizenry, not just their national constituencies. If we accept this position, then UK MEPs should keep their seats in the European Parliament (EP) until the expiration of its current term, in 2019. We can expect the majority of them to adopt a lower profile, abstaining on matters outside the UK’s new remit.

There will be pressure to remove Britons from powerful jobs that have a bearing on the UK’s future relations with the EU. A reshuffling of EP committee Chairs will probably occur during the withdrawal negotiations (probably at the end of 2016/January 2017) Paradoxically, British MEPs are expected to vote on the UK’s EU divorce treaty, expected to be thrashed out by David Davis, the secretary of state for exiting the EU. Although the British government will be treated as a foreign country, there is nothing in the EU rulebook that prevents British MEPs from having a say when the European parliament votes on the British divorce treaty under Article 50.

Britain and the EU will probably part company by December 2018, and Article 50 might be triggered at the very end of this year or the beginning of 2017, after which there will be two years of negotiations with the 27 member states about the nature of the future EU-UK working relationship.