UK Will Have To Pour More Resources Into Ties With EU After Brexit - Parliament Committee

The United Kingdom will have to dedicate more resources into maintaining cooperation with EU institutions after Brexit than it does now if it wants to ensure an "effective" relationship with the bloc, a report by the UK House of Lords' EU Select Committee showed on Monday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th March, 2019) The United Kingdom will have to dedicate more resources into maintaining cooperation with EU institutions after Brexit than it does now if it wants to ensure an "effective" relationship with the bloc, a report by the UK House of Lords' EU Select Committee showed on Monday.

The report, dubbed "Beyond Brexit: how to win friends and influence people," focuses on the analysis of measures that the country could take in order to maintain influence in Brussels after Brexit. The committee compiled its report under the Primary assumption that UK lawmakers would eventually approve Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit deal.

"The report finds that, paradoxically, the UK will need to devote significantly more resources to lobbying and engaging with the EU Institutions after Brexit, if it is to ensure an effective relationship with its most significant trading partner. The report says UKRep the UK Government's representation in Brussels should increase its diplomatic presence," the committee said.

The committee suggested that the EU-UK Joint Committee, a proposed body for post-Brexit cooperation, would play a decisive role in bilateral relations.

It said that the effectiveness of the committee would depend on a number of factors, such as frequency of meetings the minimum requirement of annual meetings is supposedly "insufficient" the committee's responsibilities, senior representation and mutual commitment to use the committee as a "forum in which to discuss topical issues or concerns, and to strengthen bilateral contacts."

The authors of the report stressed that the UK parliament should make efforts to maintain a dialogue with the European Parliament and national parliaments of the EU member states.

The UK-EU Brexit talks are in a stalemate as the UK parliament has refused to support May's negotiated deal. The European Union has agreed to grant the United Kingdom an extension to the original departure date of March 29. The United Kingdom now has until May 22 if its parliament passes the withdrawal deal next week, and until April 12 if it does not. At the same time, the European Union indicated it would not reopen negotiations on the deal.