“EU Article 50 Report highlights importance of planning for constitutional change” – Chris MacManus MEP

Sinn Féin MEP calls on EU and Irish officials to start responsibly planning for future changes to constitution now

Sinn Féin MEP Chris MacManus has said that a European Parliament report, which assesses the implementation of Article 50, highlights the importance of careful planning for constitutional change.

Speaking after the vote MacManus said:

“This week MEPs voted on a report which sought to assess the implementation of Article 50. Sinn Féin voted in favour of this report, which assessed the way the provisions of Article 50 were interpreted and applied, and the way the withdrawal of Britain from the EU was undertaken under those provisions.”

“The report highlighted that the political and economic consequences of the withdrawal were not genuinely assessed by the British government.”

“We have since seen successive Tory governments of chaos of limp towards exiting the EU, dragging the north of Ireland – against the will of a majority of the people there – out with it.:

MacManus called for urgent planning and preparation measures to avoid a Brexit style shambles in the likelihood of a Reunification referendum.

“What this report highlights to me is the importance of planning and preparing, in a thoughtful and careful manner, for constitutional change. It’s too late in a year’s time. We must plan for constitutional change now. It’s the responsible thing to do. We don’t want to see the mess we’ve witnessed in Britain repeated on the island of Ireland post-referendum.”

The Midlands Northwest MEP concluded, “Sinn Féin believes the Irish government and the EU need to engage with civic society groups across Ireland to ensure any future referendum on Irish reunification is carefully thought out and that people have a clear view of their choices.” END