PP’s González Pons will be Brexit spokesman for EPP
The European People’s Party, which brings together European centre right parties and is an influential force in the EU, has named the Partido Popular MEP Esteban González Pons as its spokesman in Brexit negotiations.
Sr González Pons, who is also the PP spokesman in the European Parliament, will be responsible for communicating the EPP’s position as the UK negotiates its withdrawal from the bloc.
Last month, Sr González Pons took a tough stance on Gibraltar and Scotland during a session of a European Parliament select committee analysing Brexit.
He told Chief Minister Fabian Picardo and the Scottish government’s Fyona Hyslop, that there was no scope for a differentiated Brexit deal or “a la carte” solutions.
Mr Picardo told him that Gibraltar would never negotiate its sovereignty and that “with goodwill”, it would be possible to secure a Brexit that safeguarded border flow.
Likewise Mrs Hyslop told the PP politician that differentiated solutions in Brexit would present complex legal and constitutional challenges, these could be overcome “with political will to make it work”.
The EPP is the largest and most influential European-level political party of the centre-right, which currently includes 79 parties and partners from 41 countries, the Presidents of the European Commission, the European Council, and of the European Parliament, eight EU and seven non-EU heads of state and government, 14 members of the European Commission and the largest Group in the European Parliament.