Press conference by Antonio TAJANI,&nbsp;EP President, Jean-Claude JUNCKER,&nbsp;President of the EC and Joseph MUSCAT, Maltese Prime Minister on the priorities of the programme of activities of the Maltese Presidency, during the EP plenary session (16-19 January) in Strasbourg.

TAJANI, Antonio (EPP, IT)

Strasbourg

JUNCKER, Jean-Claude (LU)

press conference

MUSCAT, Joseph (PSE, MT)

Maltese presidency of the EU (T)

EU - Malta (T)

Priorities of the programme of activities of the Maltese Presidency: extracts from the press conference by Antonio TAJANI, EP President, Jean-Claude JUNCKER, President of the EC and Joseph MUSCAT, Maltese Prime Minister

Installation of the three Presidents at the press conference room.

SOUNDBITE (English), Joseph MUSCAT, Maltese Prime Minister, We advocate as Presidency that the Parliament be involved as deeply as possible within this process and I believe that leaving parliament out of the equation comes with huge risks; Obviously there is no convergence on this attitude, we still need to work on this attitude, but I believe that in the next few months we will have a lot to discuss with President Tajani and the different political groups.

SOUNDBITE (French), Jean-Claude JUNCKER, President of the EC, I said negotiations will start when the good-bye letter will arrive to us. I spoke with PM May yesterday on the phone, I welcome the fact that she has given us clarifications, she&rsquo;s highlighted the importance of certain subjects more than others but we will see more of that when the negotiations themselves unfold after March. So, we&rsquo;ll see what the &lsquo;autopsy&rsquo; will be, if we are going in the good direction. It is evident that there needs to be a &lsquo;fair deal&rsquo; with Britain (he switches to English) And fair means equal obligations for everyone who is taking part in a kind of internal market, and we will see this in the course of next coming events.

SOUNDBITE (French), Jean-Claude JUNCKER, President of the EC, I have read also some headlines: &lsquo;end of the grand coalition&rsquo; &lsquo;replacement of the grand coalition&rsquo;&hellip; by media, but I think we are all working for Europe. I don&rsquo;t think that anyone can simply say &lsquo;farewell&rsquo; to Europe just because they are disappointed by the reorganisation of the EP. As far as I am concerned nothing has changed but I know that relation are going to be more difficult from now on but I will do my best to make them easier. We need the Socialist party in Europe.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jean-Claude JUNCKER, President of the EC, We as the Commission and Michel BARNIER as Chief negotiation, we are not in a hostile mood. We want a fair deal with Britain and a fair deal for Britain but a fair deal means a fair deal for the EU too. I am quite satisfied that she (PM May) was taking away from this unclear landscape some elements and making it clearer but our basic position is the same. We will start negotiating after the triggering of Article 50 and then we&rsquo;ll see. It will be a very very very difficult negotiation, because Britain has to be considered as a third country which I am not used to express myself in these terms, I&rsquo;m unhappy about this but that&rsquo;s the situation we are in and we&rsquo;ll make the best out of it.