MEPs to debate Brexit vote as EU leaders face criticism

MEPs will debate the fallout from the UK referendum at a plenary session in Strasbourg on Tuesday, as the European Union continues to deal with the aftermath of the shock result. However, no major policy decision is expected to be announced.

Speaking ahead of the session the GUE-NGL group, of which Sinn Féin is a member, said that while the referendum was a “drastic warning sign of the EU’s ongoing erosion”, EU leaders had shown “no sign of self-criticism” at their first European Council summit following the referendum last week and had denied that there is any need for fundamental change.

“They ignore the urgent need to set the integration process back on track by ending austerity, ensuing social cohesion and guaranteeing democratic control,” the left-wing group said.

EU leaders have put on hold any substantive discussion on the future direction of the union until the autumn at the earliest, with an informal meeting of the 27 EU leaders, without Britain, scheduled to take place on September 16th in Bratislava.

German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble said this weekend that this was not a time for “grand visions”.

Growing frustration

Amid weekend reports that senior figures in the German government were growing increasingly frustrated with the leadership of Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, Juncker himself will debrief the European Parliament on last week’s summit on Tuesday.

The former Luxembourg prime minister, regarded as one of the primary proponents of further EU integration, was forced to defend his record publicly to MEPs at last Tuesday’s emergency plenary session of the European Parliament.

“I’m not tired. I’m not sick as newspapers in Germany write. I am what I am. To my last breath I will fight for Europe, for a united Europe,” he said.

Despite the resignation of Nigel Farage as leader of the UK Independence Party on Monday, the MEP is expected to attend this week’s plenary session in Parliament.

Tough line

The Ukip founder who has been a member of the European Parliament since 1999, indicated on Monday that he would see out his term as an MEP which will come to an end in 2019.

Mr Farage delivered a colourful intervention at last Tuesday’s plenary session in Brussels, when he accused the EU of being in “denial” about the state of the union and said that most MEPs had “never done a day’s work” in their lives.

While European Parliament president Martin Schulz took a tough line with Britain in the days immediately following the referendum, calling for the immediate triggering of article 50 of the Lisbon treaty in order to commence the UK exit procedure as quickly as possible, the parliament has toned down its rhetoric over the last week.

The imminent departure of the UK from the EU will have a knock-on impact on the shape and size of the European Parliament. Britain now holds 73 of the parliament’s 751 seats.

In particular it is likely to affect the make-up of the European Conservative and Reformists (ECR) group of which the British Conservative Party is the largest member.