Guy Verhofstadt, the European parliament’s Brexit coordinator, has urged Theresa May to rethink her snub to MEPs and give a public address to the parliament.
Verhofstadt said it was in the British prime minister’s interests to drop her plans to speak only in private to the chamber’s political leaders, known as the conference of presidents.
“I would encourage her to address the whole house, the plenary,” he said. “Other heads of state have done this in the past.”
The parliament’s president, Antonio Tajani, invited May earlier this year to speak to a full session of the chamber to explain her position on Brexit. The parliament has the right to veto any withdrawal deal reached between the EU and the UK.
The Guardian revealed last week that May had rejected the offer in favour of speaking behind closed doors at a date yet to be finalised.
She would have followed in the footsteps of Gordon Brown, Tony Blair and Margaret Thatcher if she had faced MEPs in the chamber.
Verhofstadt, a former Belgian prime minister, told reporters in Strasbourg that while he was pleased May had committed to talking to the parliament’s leaders, an open debate with MEPs could help the flow of the negotiations.
“I think that can only he helpful because it will be the European parliament that will need to give the green light to the outcome of the negotiation,” he said.
“And what is at stake at the moment are issues very near to the heart of the European parliament, most members of the European parliament. The question of citizens’ rights, the Irish border, the question about the financial settlement, also the future. All this I think needs to be debated in an open dialogue between Mrs May and all members.”
Verhofstadt said he was yet to be given a date for May’s appearance before the conference of presidents, but the UK’s permanent representative to the EU, Sir Tim Barrow, made contact with the chamber’s officials last week.
The prime minister’s decision has displeased key figures in the parliament, who believe Britain has not taken the chamber’s role in the process seriously enough in the past.
The co-leader of the Green bloc in the parliament, the Belgian MEP Philippe Lamberts, was scathing of May’s decision when asked to comment at a press conference.
“I don’t know her personally, but the impression I get of her is that she is a lady out of her depth, meaning that she is reaching the very edge of her skills now and it is starting to show,” he said.
“If I were her adviser, I would advise the same. I think she had more to lose than win by coming. I think it was the right calculation for her. If she were to come to Brussels or Strasbourg, I think she would risk further weakening the UK’s position.”
