Andreas SCHIEDER (S&D, AT), and Christophe HANSEN (EPP, LU), rapporteurs, David McALLISTER (EPP, DE), Chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) and Bernd LANGE (S&D, DE), Chair of the Committee on International Trade (INTA) give a joint press conference on the vote on EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement. This transcription speech is the result of an automatic process. Check against delivery.

Committee on Foreign Affairs

Brussels

Brexit (T)

EU - United Kingdom (T)

Committee on International Trade

press conference

LANGE, Bernd (S&D, DE)

McALLISTER, David (EPP, DE)

HANSEN, Christophe (EPP, LU)

SCHIEDER, Andreas (S&D, AT)

Press conference on the vote on the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement: opening statements by Andreas SCHIEDER (S&D, AT), and Christophe HANSEN (EPP, LU), rapporteurs, David McALLISTER (EPP, DE), AFET Chair, and Bernd LANGE (S&D, DE), INTA Chair

SOUNDBITE (Original),  EP Press service So good afternoon, everybody, and welcome to this press conference on the European Parliament's consent procedure for the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement. Welcome to journalists both in the room and to those following us online. So let me just remind you that journalists connected via Interacio. Can ask to request to ask questions by clicking the raise hand button and kindly use headphones and a microphone for better sound quality.

SOUNDBITE (Original),  EP Press service Interpretation, which we have available in English, French and German is only available for interventions with video. And with us today at this press conference of Parliament's two standing rapporteurs on EU-UK relations, Mr Andreas Schieder from the S&D group, and Mr Christopher Hansen from the EPP group, who have been the members tasked with preparing the constant vote and been heavily involved in the preparation of the accompanying resolution.

SOUNDBITE (Original),  EP Press service We also have here the chairs of the committees and bodies responsible for this process, Mr David McAllister, chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee and Parliament's UK Coordination Group, and Mr Lange, chair of the Committee on International Trade.

SOUNDBITE (Original),  EP Press service So without further ado, I would like to give the floor first to Mr Mc Allister, then to Mr Lange, followed by our rapporteurs. So please, Mr McAllister.

Speaker 2SOUNDBITE (Original), David McALLISTER (EPP, DE), AFET Chair, So good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for your interest in today's press conference. This morning as you all followed, the plenary held a debate on the EU - U.K. trade and cooperation agreement together with the accompanying resolution. The final vote this evening will mark the end of the parliamentary ratification process of the British withdrawal from the European Union.

SOUNDBITE (Original), David McALLISTER (EPP, DE), AFET Chair, But for years, if not for decades, we will have to deal with the consequences of Brexit. The UK government has decided to leave the EU in a context of regulatory divergence. This arises from the type of Brexit which cannot prevent a completely frictionless trade.

SOUNDBITE (Original), David McALLISTER (EPP, DE), AFET Chair, From the beginning, the main objective was about limiting negative consequences on both sides to the best agreement possible. From my point of view, this agreement puts our future partnership on a solid legal basis. It set out to single institutional framework to manage new divergences, a structure of cooperation, but necessarily has to emerge after having shared more than 45 years of common institutions and a common legal order.

SOUNDBITE (Original), David McALLISTER (EPP, DE), AFET Chair, The consent procedure is a legal requirement for every EU free trade agreement. Bernd Lange chair of INTA committee, knows this very well. However, draughting a political resolution has been an unusual and remarkable process of cooperation across committees and policy areas. In total, 17 of our parliamentary committees have provided their subjects specific opinions, in the end enabling us to take a 360 degree view on the agreement.

SOUNDBITE (Original), David McALLISTER (EPP, DE), AFET Chair, We were able to create a level of involvement that perhaps was unprecedented in the European Parliament's history, as mentioned by a number of colleagues this morning during the debate. This agreement of trade and cooperation agreement with the United Kingdom is a living agreement. On the one hand, it is not completely exhaustive. Important policy fields are not included, such as foreign affairs, security and defence.

SOUNDBITE (Original), David McALLISTER (EPP, DE), AFET Chair, On the other hand, it requires a lot of implementing measures. Each of them might produce additional problems, as we are just witnessing with regard to the implementation of the protocol in Ireland and Northern Ireland.

SOUNDBITE (Original), David McALLISTER (EPP, DE), AFET Chair, Let me be once again very clear. The withdrawal agreement must be respected and faithfully implemented, which is in turn a litmus test for the implementation of the trade and cooperation agreement.

SOUNDBITE (Original), David McALLISTER (EPP, DE), AFET Chair, A final remark, no surprises, but more joint work will be need will need to be done to broaden and deepen the new partnership with the UK. Existing structures in the agreement must be used to ensure that the protocol functions in a way that works for everyone.

SOUNDBITE (Original), David McALLISTER (EPP, DE), AFET Chair, The EU has always been and the EU will remain fully committed to work on policy practical solutions. So while Brexit is and will always be a lose lose situation for the negotiations have once again shown that our strength as European Union lies in our unity, we should all keep this in mind when further developing our community of states. Thank you for your attention. I am happy to hand over to my colleague Bernd Lange.

Speaker 3SOUNDBITE (Original), Bernd LANGE (S&D, DE), INTA Chair, Thanks a lot, David and also welcome from my side here to this press conference on the content vote and on the resolution on the UK- EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement. As my distinguished co-chair mentioned, it's really mostly a trade agreement.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Bernd LANGE (S&D, DE), INTA Chair, Of course, we would like to see a more closer cooperation between the United Kingdom and the European Union like we have, admits Norway of Switzerland. But it was the outspoken wish of the British government to have just a trade agreement. And as you know, there are some problems with a normal trade agreement, the rules of origin, the question of SPS standards on consumer protection, the question of conformity for products and this has to be solved.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Bernd LANGE (S&D, DE), INTA Chair, And secondly, in such a trade agreement, of course, we are always looking to have some kind of safety net safeguards if there is a violation of the obligation in such a trade agreement. We have a long standing discussion about that. And here in the agreement, we have some innovative elements on the question of violation of existing standards like the ILO standards. It's possible to set remedies if there is a violation.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Bernd LANGE (S&D, DE), INTA Chair, And secondly, on the level playing field, if there is a divergence, then of course it's possible to set rebalancing better. So that's quite innovative and I think this is also some direction for further trade agreements.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Bernd LANGE (S&D, DE), INTA Chair, And secondly, yes, as David said, it's really important to look now for the implementation. And therefore, I really totally convinced that it's important to have a democratic body on the side of the European Commission to control the implementation process on several areas where this agreement is really a living agreement.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Bernd LANGE (S&D, DE), INTA Chair, And therefore, I'm quite happy that it was possible to have a declaration by the European Commission where the involvement and the consultation of the European Parliament is fixed in a lot of important items. You'll find our demands also in the resolution from our two rapporteurs, and the Commission really accepted our demands. And this is also a big step and I think this is also a good example for further cooperation. So I'm looking forward because like a famous German football man said once after the game, it's before the game. And this is exactly where we are now. Thanks a lot.

SOUNDBITE (Original),  EP Press service Thank you so much. Then we would like to invite our rapporteurs to come up and join us on stage. This is the closest to me we can start with, Mr. Hansen, please, you have the floor.

Speaker 4SOUNDBITE (Original), Christophe HANSEN (EPP, LU), rapporteur, Yes. Thank you very much as well for joining our press conference of today. I think to today is, of course, we had the regrettable task to really getting Brexit done. And I hope that tomorrow we will have a strong majority in favour of the TCA and I'm quite confident then that we will manage just because in the joint vote, in INTA committee, we had a really large majority supporting already the agreement and giving a conference and wanted to go ahead for the content in this case.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Christophe HANSEN (EPP, LU), rapporteur, So I say in my speech in the plenary and I wish to repeat it, if the vote turns out to be positive, it should not be seen as a blank cheque to the UK government or a blind vote of confidence in that they will implement the agreements between us in good faith. But it is rather than an insurance policy from our perspective. So the TCA will help us remind the United Kingdom of the commitments it has signed up to.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Christophe HANSEN (EPP, LU), rapporteur, So most of all, from a trade perspective, we have seen that the TCA now in action, already managed to deliver and shield our companies from the main impacts from an eventual Brexit. So there is a real benefit from this agreement already know that we can see.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Christophe HANSEN (EPP, LU), rapporteur, And the impact has, however, been real and I think it is important as well to remind to some statistics. Eurostat, for the first two months of this new situation, gave the first overview and that we have seen that exports from the EU to the UK have decreased by roughly 20 percent and exports from the UK side to the EU by 47 percent.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Christophe HANSEN (EPP, LU), rapporteur, Of course, we have to continue to consider this with a little bit of distance. They are in the first month, of course, more things to adapt to and this administrative burden, of course, is slowing down trade and you have as well the case that some companies are stockpiling in advance of this of this moment of face, let's say, like that.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Christophe HANSEN (EPP, LU), rapporteur, So it is not to be seen over the next months what the other concrete figures are. But we have as well seen, for example, recently that the UK food and trade organisations are saying that they are exports to the EU have decreased now after four months by 40 percent. So this is a huge impact for the companies. And this is, of course, a loss as well in in productivity.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Christophe HANSEN (EPP, LU), rapporteur, So most of all, I hope that after the vote tomorrow, we can finally turn the page, that we can start looking forward. This will be important, but it is as well and assured that there will be other problems that may arise during the next months and years. So we will still be dealing with this new situation that will have to evolve over time and for our businesses and sectors, it is very important that we now urgently as well get the Brexit adjustment reserve done and that the money can be delivered to our companies, to our sectors that are most affected.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Christophe HANSEN (EPP, LU), rapporteur, So I think it would be wise not to try to discuss the distribution key. It's the companies and the business needs the support. Now that is very important. And then last but not least, we will as well urge the parliament president to set up this interparliamentary assembly between the European Parliament and the UK and UK representatives in order to keep on discussing and get new advice. And this is very important that we keep overlooking the relationship and guide as well. And as well, if you need it, we will call on the Commission to get into action, if we will see that there are further problems arising.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Christophe HANSEN (EPP, LU), rapporteur, Thank you very much. And I will hand over to my co-rapporteur Andreas Schieder who followed the Kati Piri, with whom I had a very, very good cooperation as well, Andreas. Thank you.

Speaker 5	SOUNDBITE (Original), Andreas SCHIEDER (S&D, AT), rapporteur, Thank you also, Christopher, for the good cooperation. And as mentioned also, I took over from Kati Piri but anyway, it is the moment where Brexit five years comes to an end politically. But we should not only see this as an end, it is also the beginning of a new situation.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Andreas SCHIEDER (S&D, AT), rapporteur, And it doesn't make any sense always to say it makes sense to say that Brexit is a big mistake, but it doesn't give us any political solution. So therefore, we have also to find the new ways how we work together to TCA and the accompanying resolution of the European Parliament are the two major documents to do this.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Andreas SCHIEDER (S&D, AT), rapporteur, Because we have to set up a basis for a good relationship, and this means also on fair relationship, which makes several things. Sure it is that we defend the European standards, social standards, consumer standards, standards of protection and economic space to ensure that we have a free trade agreement, which makes sure that we have no no customs and no duties.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Andreas SCHIEDER (S&D, AT), rapporteur, So to allow this but also we know that at the end of the day, we have something left out, which is Erasmus plus, which we regret very much, and which is also the foreign and security policy, which we also regret because Great Britain was a big player in this field.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Andreas SCHIEDER (S&D, AT), rapporteur, But we know also for the daily life of millions of Brits and 10 thousands of Europeans living in the United Kingdom, they are still a lot of questions open. So to put this treaty into practise, to solve the minor and bigger problems which are coming up is also a future task.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Andreas SCHIEDER (S&D, AT), rapporteur, And therefore, we need also the British administration, the British and the UK government also to be more constructive on these issues. We know that there had been breaches also already of the treaty.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Andreas SCHIEDER (S&D, AT), rapporteur, So therefore, we also see what we need is unilateral violations are unacceptable. And of course, we need to set up customs duties and all these things and we need to see also clear timetables coming up.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Andreas SCHIEDER (S&D, AT), rapporteur, Finally, I think it is important that the European Parliament, this the body directly elected by the people, is having a big say in all these processes which are coming in the future. And I'm quite happy that after these long negotiations and discussions, also the President of the Commission today, publicly in the parliament, was also saying that she is behind this idea and taking it.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Andreas SCHIEDER (S&D, AT), rapporteur, So at the end, I want to repeat, as I said at the beginning, it is a mistake. We have to make the best out of it and we have to ensure also that is not, again, in the history like this, usually that this historic mistake is not negatively affecting the big millionaires', which finances also the Brexit campaign. But it's not hard affecting the normal people which are trying to organise their life. So therefore, we will see how the future comes. But I think today, if we will vote in favour, it will be a good start.