During the EP plenary session (11-14 September 2017) in Strasbourg,&nbsp;MEPs debate on the&nbsp;State of the Union 2017 (2nd part). Statements by Janusz LEWANDOWSKI (EPP, PL), Sergei STANISHEV (S&amp;D, BG),&nbsp; Josep-Maria TERRICABRAS (Greens/EFA, ES), Esteban GONZALEZ PONS (EPP, ES), Juan Fernando LOPEZ AGUILAR (S&amp;D, ES), Guy VERHOFSTADT, Gianni PITTELLA (S&amp;D, IT) and Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE).

Strasbourg

debate

plenary session

WEBER, Manfred (EPP, DE)

PITTELLA, Gianni (S&D, IT)

LÓPEZ AGUILAR, Juan Fernando (S&D, ES)

LEWANDOWSKI, Janusz (EPP, PL)

GONZÁLEZ PONS, Esteban (EPP, ES)

state of the Union 2017 (T)

state of the Union

TERRICABRAS, Josep-Maria (Greens/EFA, ES)

STANISHEV, Sergei (S&D, BG)

State of the Union 2017: extracts from the MEPs' debate (2nd part)

SOUNDBITE (Polish), Janusz LEWANDOWSKI (EPP, PL), My country Poland is inhabited by people who feel good in Europe and about Europe, who feel themselves at home in Europe; I&rsquo;d like to say on behalf of my delegation that we will do everything we can to ensure that Poland will be a full participant in the quest for new European unity.

SOUNDBITE (English), Serge&#239; STANISHEV (S&amp;D, BG), I expected, frankly speaking, stronger social dimension, we really need a European social action plan today in order to regain trust.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Josep-Maria TERRICABRAS (Greens/EFA, ES), I am not asking you to speak in favour of independence, the Catalans can do it on their own. But I ask you that you mediate with the Spanish government to get an agreement on the referendum. And I also ask, why is not the Commission intervening to defend the freedom of expression in Spain?

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Esteban GONZ&#193;LEZ PONS (EPP, ES), There are countries that are attacking the separation of powers and that&rsquo;s also happening in my country where a region is attacking the Constitution. Nationalism expands just like a virus. The Constitutions of every member state are the building blocks of the Union, so attacking a Constitution is attacking the Union. The unity of my country is also the unity of the EU; this is why the European Commission has the responsibility to defend the Constitution and the unity of all member states.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Juan Fernando L&#211;PEZ AGUILAR (S&amp;D, ES), Ignoring Court rulings is being in breach of the law. It&rsquo;s a crime. And that can happen in Hungary, in Poland, in Catalonia, and everywhere it happens, it&rsquo;s the negation of Europe.

SOUNDBITE (English), Guy VERHOFSTADT, You have seen here a broad support for the ambitious programme that Mr Juncker has presented. And you have to take that on board and use it as a tool towards our member states in the Council so that at their side there will also be the same ambition and support.

SOUNDBITE (Italian), Gianni PITTELLA (S&amp;D, IT), A European Federal fund, a federal budget, a European Central Bank as an end-lender&hellip; and all of this accompanied by European culture, which is the real pillar of European integration.

SOUNDBITE (English), Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), We have to be franc, do we really think that more legal migration to the EU will solve the illegal migration problem? How many Africans do we invite to Europe to come? Do we really think that this will solve the problem? I think, on behalf of my group, that first of all we have to have in mind the millions of young Europeans who have no jobs at the moment and that we cannot say at the moment we open the door to legal migration when they at the moment have no job.