Professor Kenneth Armstrong, Fellow at Sidney and Professor of European Law, joined the Constitutional Affairs Committee to discuss how Article 50 could be improved based on the experience of its activation by the UK.

The Committee on Constitutional Affairs is a committee of the European Parliament dealing with institutional matters such as the Treaties of the European Union and the Parliament's rules of procedure. 

The speakers agreed broadly that the framework provided by Article 50 proved to be fit for purpose for its first activation, by safeguarding the integrity of the EU and its legal order, while providing a pathway for the orderly withdrawal of the UK. While the majority of MEPs expressed hope that it would not be used again, there was also broad agreement that it could be improved.

Professor Armstrong covered several points including the status of the declaration, the ongoing role of Article 50, and posed a question about what the EU should do when the domestic constitutional and democratic structures do not function to secure an orderly withdrawal.

Watch Professor Armstrong giving evidence at the European Parliament’s Constitutional Affairs Committee [see Professor Armstrong’s address at 09:34:30].


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