MP: Brexit will encourage member states that don’t feel bound to agreements
Economic analyst and Reform Party MP Maris Lauri said in a meeting of the Riigikogu’s European Union Affairs Committee on Friday that the United Kingdom leaving the union would give the share of member states more weight who don’t feel bound to agreements.
In the meeting, which discussed the effects of the UK leaving the EU, Lauri said that Estonia needed to speak up in the future and insist that member states adhered to their treaty commitments and the agreements they signed with each other and the European Union.
Lauri pointed out that with the UK leaving, the share of those countries in the union who had a rather relaxed approach to meeting their obligations would increase. This didn’t need to be pushed to the point of not being flexible anymore, but agreements needed to be followed.
She also said that it was time for Estonia to get over the feeling of being a new member of the union. “We’re a full member and able to do quite a lot in spite of our small population,” Lauri said.
In the aftermath of the British EU membership referendum, EU critics have become more influential than ever before. Their political successes as well as their feeling emboldened make new agreements at the EU level increasingly difficult, for example in matters of migration policy, where several countries are still refusing to take part in solutions that span all of the union’s member states.
Editor: Editor: Dario Cavegn