‘I urge the Commission to be strict should the agreement not be fully respected’, said Pascal Canfin, chair of the ENVI committee in the European Parliament.
This week the ENVI committee published its opinion on the EU-UK trade deal in a six-page letter.
The letter stresses the European Commission should ‘stand ready to make full use of dispute resolution tools available in the Agreement’. In case the UK regresses on environmental standards, the committee believes the link to trade and investment ‘should be broadly interpreted’. This trade test is mandatory for accessing the dispute settlement mechanism.
ENVI says it will maximise its scrutiny of the deal’s implementation. The European Parliament’s committees should be involved in future review processes of the deal and should hold the European Commission accountable for its participation in the Partnership Council (the highest governance entity of the deal).
It also calls on the Parties to aim for dynamic alignment of climate targets and environmental protections, and welcomes future negotiations on a closer form of cooperation on chemicals safety management.
ENVI committee, opinion letter on the EU-UK trade deal
European Parliament, press release 27 January 2020