Debate during the plenary session of July in Strasbourg on the conclusions of the European Council meeting of 28 and 29 June 2016. Statements by Donald TUSK, President of the European Council, Jean-Claude JUNCKER, President of the EC, Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), Giovanni PITTELLA (S&amp;D, IT), Syed KAMALL (ECR, UK), Guy VERHOFSTADT (ALDE, BE), Gabriele ZIMMER (GUE/NGL, DE) and Rebecca HARMS (Greens/EFA, DE).

VERHOFSTADT, Guy (Renew, BE)

Brexit (T)

Strasbourg

debate

WEBER, Manfred (EPP, DE)

PITTELLA, Gianni (S&D, IT)

JUNCKER, Jean-Claude (LU)

KAMALL, Syed (ECR, UK)

TUSK, Donald (PL)

ZIMMER, Gabriele (GUE/NGL, DE)

European Council meeting 28-29 June 2016 (T)

HARMS, Rebecca (Greens/EFA, DE)

Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 28 and 29 June 2016: extracts from the debate

SOUNDBITE (English), Donald TUSK, President of the European Council, Respecting the will of the British people, the EU leaders recognised that the process of orderly exit is now in everyone's, and especially in the UK's interest. Prime minister Cameron explained why he is leaving the decision to trigger Art 50 on the TUE to the new leadership in Britain. The leaders understand that some time is needed to allow the political landscape to settle in Britain, but they also expect the intentions of the UK government to be specified as soon as possible.

SOUNDBITE (English), Donald TUSK, President of the European Council, Brexit means substantially lower growth in the UK, with a possible negative spillover all over the world.

SOUNDBITE (French), Jean-Claude JUNCKER, President of the EC, I agree with those who are saying that we should not continue as before. But frankly, are we curently doing as before ? Parliament and Council agreed and adopted the Commission's agenda. The priorities we have set, should them be reviewed? No. To date we have mobilized investments amounting to EUR 108 billion; investments that would not have occurred if the investment plan did not exist.

SOUNDBITE (French), Jean-Claude JUNCKER, President of the EC, I believe we should make the European Union a Union of Europeans. That's why I believe that in the future we should better implement the decisions we are taking.

SOUNDBITE (German), Jean-Claude JUNCKER, President of the EC, Those who contributed to the situation in the UK had resigned, Johnson, Farage and others. They are retro nationalists, they are not patriots! Patriots don't resign when the situation is getting difficult; they stay! Applause

SOUNDBITE (English), Jean-Claude JUNCKER, President of the EC, We are waiting for the British notification. I could understand that the remain camp needs weeks to reflect, but I do not understand that the Brexit camp needs months before knowing what to do. I would have thought that they would had a plan. Instead of developing a plan, they are leaving the boat!

SOUNDBITE (German), Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), We here in Europe, have now to keep calm. If you look at trade policies today, Europe today is going to discuss the privacy shield, data protection on the internet, Europe for citizens and for member states is a gain in terms of sovereignty.

SOUNDBITE (Italian), Giovanni PITTELLA (S&amp;D, IT), I do not understand where Mr Sch&auml;uble is coming from, and how can he say that intergovernmental method worked well over the last few years? How on earth does he think that? What about the Greek an crisis? The migration crisis? Our objective is quite clear, to ensure that the EU is a driving force in our community. That's what we need to achieve!

SOUNDBITE (English), Syed KAMALL (ECR, UK), On this chamber we rightly talk about the lessons of history, but what about the lessons that warn of the peril when leaders become too disconnected from their people. And increasingly decisions in the EU are not necessarily being made in an open and transparent way. Especially in this chamber, the decisions are not always been made by all 751 MEP's from across the continent. Politics is about perception, and there is a perception that decisions are increasingly made by five men sitting in the room, and cutting deals among themselves.

SOUNDBITE (English), Guy VERHOFSTADT (ALDE, BE), I don't think that you understand what is happening. It's not only a Brexit referendum, before that it was a referendum in Denmark: negative, there was a referendum on the Ukraine agreement in the Netherlands: negative, now in the UK. What are you waiting for? For the next referendum in France? The next referendum in Italy, maybe? When you will recognise, when will the Council recognise that this type of European Union of today you cannot defend it anymore! And that Europe needs to be reformed, and- in my opinion - a new project, a new vision should be presented to the citizens of Europe, because the truth is that the European citizens are not against Europe, they are against THIS Europe.

SOUNDBITE (English), Guy VERHOFSTADT (ALDE, BE), I was pointing the fingers to your leaders in Britain: to Mr Farage, to Mr Johnson, to Mr Gove, who today are leaving the political scene, and have no clue how it has to go in the future. They are in fact leaving the country with markets in turmoil, that is my criticism. Citizens are right, but your political leaders not!

SOUNDBITE (German), Gabriele ZIMMER (GUE/NGL, DE), People for the moment are fed up with Europe. The question is, what can we do now, right now! It is time for us, the member states of the EU to stand together and come up with solutions, to think in terms for example of envisaging an European humanitarian aid programme.

SOUNDBITE (German), Rebecca HARMS (Greens/EFA, DE), The central responsibility for what has happened is up to the British government. Not just the last government, but a number of preceding governments as well. The fact that they were not able to change that situation; I'm fully aware of it. They shift the blame over Europe, causing all this antagonisms among ordinary people that is certainly not responsible.