Asked by: Baroness Deech (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the propriety of the appointment of Martin Selmayr as Secretary-General of the European Commission following the investigation carried out by the European Ombudsman into the procedure that was followed before his appointment.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Appointments to the European Commission civil service are an internal matter for the Commission.
Asked by: Baroness Deech (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask Her Majesty's Government, in the light of the draft withdrawal agreement published on 28 February by the European Commission, what assessment they have made of (1) the possibility of Northern Ireland remaining subject to some EU laws after Brexit without any elected representation in the EU institutions, and (2) whether such an outcome would be consistent with British obligations under Article 3, Protocol 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights, as interpreted and applied in the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in Matthews v UK, 1999.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Following our exit from the EU, the UK will no longer be a Member State and will no longer have elected representation in the EU institutions. With regard to the Northern Ireland Protocol to the draft Withdrawal Agreement, the UK has been clear, and has reaffirmed, that we are committed to turning all of the commitments in the December Joint Report into legally binding text in the Withdrawal Agreement. Negotiations are ongoing and the Government has set out our proposed approach on the customs element of the backstop, the Temporary Customs Arrangement. The Government is committed to accelerating discussions on the backstop, alongside intensifying negotiations on the future relationship.
Any negotiated outcomes will need to be compatible with our international obligations under the European Convention of Human Rights.
Asked by: Baroness Deech (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by Lars Karlsson for the European Parliament Smart Border 2.0 Avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland for customs control and the free movement of persons, published November 2017.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The report shows a misunderstanding of the Northern Ireland and Ireland context and proposes a fundamental redesign of the Common Travel Area (CTA), which neither the UK, Ireland or the EU have ever envisaged.
Whilst there are some parallels with the work we are developing on the wider UK-EU border model that would apply, for example, to the border between Dover and Calais, this report proposes a form of hard border, albeit an efficiently managed one, for the Northern Ireland-Ireland land border and is therefore fundamentally inconsistent with Government policy and the commitments we have made.
It is unacceptable to suggest any solutions which would require physical infrastructure at the border. Both the UK Government and Irish Government have explicitly ruled this out, as the removal of physical checks and security installations has been a key dividend of the peace process.
Asked by: Baroness Deech (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the progress of negotiations to secure the settlement rights of British citizens living in the EU after Brexit.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
From the very beginning the Prime Minister has been clear that safeguarding the rights of UK nationals living in the EU, and EU citizens living in the UK, was her first priority for negotiations.
The agreement reached and set out in the Withdrawal Agreement text will provide them with certainty about their rights going forward.
This will mean that all UK nationals resident in the EU by December 2020 will be able to continue living their lives broadly as they do now in their country of residence.
It will be for each Member State to determine how they will confirm the rights of UK nationals under the Withdrawal Agreement. We are seeking details of how each EU Member State will implement the Withdrawal Agreement for UK nationals.
Asked by: Baroness Deech (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the progress of their preparations for a no deal Brexit.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As we continue to make progress in negotiations, we are increasingly confident that we will secure a deal with the EU and that the prospect of leaving negotiations with ‘no deal’ has receded significantly. However, as a responsible government we are preparing for all possible outcomes. Departments’ plans are well developed and are designed to respond to all scenarios, including the unlikely possibility that we leave the EU without a deal in place. Some delivery has already become evident, and more will become public over the coming weeks and months.