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2019 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

5. The Scrutiny of Brexit in National Parliaments: Germany, Luxembourg and the Czech Republic Compared

Authors : Vanessa Buth, Anna-Lena Högenauer, Petr Kaniok

Published in: Brexit and Democracy

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

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Abstract

The outcome of the Brexit referendum has led to a highly mediatized battle of power between the British government and parliament over how much influence the latter can exert over the British position in the negotiations with the European Union (EU). At the same time, the role of parliaments in the remaining member states has received virtually no public attention, despite the fact that the stakes are also high for their publics. The aim of our chapter is to shed light on dynamics of parliamentary control of Brexit in the remaining member states through a comparative study of the German, Czech and Luxembourgish parliaments. Each of these member states has one or several key interests at stake in the negotiations, such as exports, the financial sector and future contributions to the EU budget (Germany, Luxembourg), or migration to the UK and the maintenance of EU policies and their budgetary health (Czech Republic). The three cases represent geographical diversity and differently sized countries, to take into account different levels of governmental influence over the Brexit negotiations. The study will focus on the formal powers of parliaments, their actual mobilization and the key dynamics that mark their scrutiny of the Brexit negotiations.

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previous chapter Fighting to ‘Take Back Control’: The House of Lords and Brexit
next chapter National and Regional Parliaments in the Context of Brexit: The Case of Belgium
Footnotes
1
The Bundestag EAC, however, is not the only committee responsible for the scrutiny of EU proposals. All committees discuss European affairs within their respective specialized areas. But the EAC is interdisciplinary and deals with cross-cutting policy as well as issues relating to European integration in particular. It scrutinizes the government’s position throughout the whole EU legislative process and on all proposals. More details on https://​www.​bundestag.​de/​ausschuesse/​ausschuesse18/​a21/​rechtsgrundlagen​ (accessed 20/02/2018).
 
4
For example, the Czech parliament started to follow the issue prior to the 2015 June European Council meeting (Chamber of Deputies, European Affairs Committee Minutes 24/06/2015, Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic European Affairs Committee Minutes 13/6/2015). During this period, however, the agenda of the British future in the EU was heavily overshadowed by the migration crisis. The same applies to Luxembourgish parliament, which started to become more active since 2015, showing no interest in 2013 or 2014.
 
5
There were three plenary debates in Luxembourg on Brexit between 2015 and 2017. Moreover, on 21 March 2017, Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn briefed the Chamber of Deputies on the key issues of the first stage of the negotiations.
 
6
A large number of these countries’ citizens are working and living in the UK. For example, in 2016, the largest population of non-British UK residents was Polish people.
 
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Metadata
Title
The Scrutiny of Brexit in National Parliaments: Germany, Luxembourg and the Czech Republic Compared
Authors
Vanessa Buth
Anna-Lena Högenauer
Petr Kaniok
Copyright Year
2019
Publisher
Springer International Publishing
Book
Brexit and Democracy

Print ISBN: 978-3-030-06042-8

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-030-06043-5

Copyright Year: 2019

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-06043-5_5