8-9 March 2018: Workshop on "The Parliamentary Scrutiny of Brexit"

Following the UK's decision to withdraw membershop from the EU, the forthcoming negotiations put a spotlight on the role of the UK Parliament and EU Parliament in the process. The contents, outcomes, and procedure relating to the negotiation are important to understand given their implications will affect the future relationship between the EU and the UK.

As such, the main focus of the workshop will be one of the key challenges for parliamentary democracy in the EU today, namely the parliamentary scrutiny of Brexit. The workshop brings together twelve speakers to examine at the role of the UK parliament in this process, to examine the attention paid to the issue in other parliaments in the remaining member states, and the involvement of the European Parliament.

Entrance to the workshop is free and you can register for the event here as long as spaces are available.

PROGRAMME

Day 1: Thursday 8 March 2018

13:15 – 13:30: Welcome and Introduction to the Workshop by Thomas Christiansen and Diane Fromage (Maastricht University)

13:30 – 15:15: Panel 1: Brexit and the UK parliament

Chair: Thomas Christiansen (Maastricht University)

• Ben Yong (University of Hull) & Louise Thompson (University of Surrey) - What do we mean by scrutiny? Scrutiny of Brexit by the House of Commons
• Richard Whitaker, Philip Lynch, & Adam Cygan (University of Leicester) - Parties, Parliament and the Brexit Process: Contestation and division in Parliament

Discussant: Paul Dowling, UK House of Lords representative in Brussels 

15:15 – 15.45: Coffee break

15.45 – 17.45: Panel 2: Brexit and Member States parliaments in the EU27

Chair: Diane Fromage (Maastricht University)

• Vanessa Buth, (University of East Anglia), Anna-Lena Högenauer (University of Luxemburg), & Petr Kaniok (Masaryk University) - Brexit-Scrutiny in the 27: What Role for Parliaments?
• Vivien Sierens & Nathalie Brack (Free University of Brussels) - Which Role for Belgian Parliaments in EU affairs? The case of Brexit in a Europhile country
• Suzana Pecin (University of Ljubljana) - The Role of the EU Citizens, the European and National Parliaments through the Heterarchical Prism of the Cosmopolitan Constitutionalism on Brexit

Discussant:  Tim de Bondt, Belgian Senate

Day 2: Friday 9 March 2018

9:00 - 9:30: Welcome coffee 

9:30 – 11:30: Panel 3: Brexit and the European Parliament

Chair: Anna Herranz-Surrallés (Maastricht University)

• Monika Brusenbauch Meislová (Palacký University Olomouc) - The European Parliament in the Brexit Process: Leading Role, Supporting Role or just a Small Cameo?
• Jan Claudius Völkel (Free University of Brussels) - The European Parliament’s relations with the Middle East: Weaker when Westminster has gone?

Discussant:  Eva-Maria Poptcheva, EPRS (tbc)

11.30 – 12:30: Final Discussion and Concluding Remarks

Venue

Maastricht Unviversity Campus Brussels
Address: Avenue de l'Armée 10, 1040 Brussels

How to reach UM Campus Brussels:

Metro: from the Central station take the purple metro line 1 leading to Stockel (not line 5 to Herrmann-Debroux) and get off at ‘Montgomery’. Take exit ‘Boulevard de Saint-Michel / Rue Tervuren 1-171 and then turn right. Walk in the direction of the Arch (Arcade du Cinquantenaire) and enter the second street on your left. This is the Avenue de l’Armée/ Legerlaan and after 10 meters the UM Campus Brussels will be on your left side.

Brussels Airport: take bus 12 or bus 21 that both cover the area between Brussels Airport and the city center. In both cases get off at ‘Diamant’ and take the tram line 23 or 24 both in the direction of ‘Vanderkindere’ or take line 25 in the direction of Boondaal Station. Get off at ‘Montgomery’. Walk in the direction of the Arch (Arcade du Cinquantenaire) and enter the second street on your left. This is the Avenue de l’Armée/ Legerlaan and after 10 meters the UM Campus Brussels will be on your left side.

The workshop was co-financed by the Centre for European Research in Maastricht (CERiM) and the Stichting Universiteitsfond Limburg (SWOL.