During the EP Plenary session (13-16/02) in Strasbourg,&nbsp;Guy VERHOFSTADT (ALDE, BE), Rapporteur, Elmar BROK (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, Reimer BOGE (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, Pervenche BERES (S&amp;D, FR), Rapporteur, Frans TIMMERMANS, First Vice-President of the EC in charge of Better Regulation, Inter-Institutional Relations, the Rule of Law and the Charter of Fundamental Rights, and Petri SARVAMAA (EPP, FI) debate on the future of the EU.

VERHOFSTADT, Guy (Renew, BE)

Strasbourg

debate

plenary session

TIMMERMANS, Frans (NL, EC)

BERÈS, Pervenche (S&D, FR)

BROK, Elmar (EPP, DE)

future of the European Union (T)

BÖGE, Reimer (EPP, DE)

SARVAMAA, Petri (EPP, FI)

Future of the EU: extracts from the opening statements

SOUNDBITE (English), Guy VERHOFSTADT (ALDE, BE), Rapporteur, We want to create a more efficient Union, for example by slimming down the Commission, by ending &lsquo;Europe &agrave; la carte&rsquo;, by in fact also creating a single seat for the European parliament. We want a more democratic Europe also, by reforming European elections, by expanding the process of the &lsquo;Spitzenkandidaten&rsquo;, by also reforming and turning the European Council in what we call a &lsquo;Council of States&rsquo; besides the European parliament, we the representatives of the citizens. And foremost we want a stronger Union, a better protection for the civil liberties in the Union, a Union and a Eurozone with a government, with a fiscal capacity, with a finance minister, with own resources, and with convergence and conditionality.

SOUNDBITE (German), Elmar BROK (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, Transparency is very important. We need to look at the Council of Ministers and it should be clear though changes in the rule that there should be only one Council of Ministers that meets in public so that all Ministers have to be clear on how they voted so they can&rsquo;t pretend back home that they weren&rsquo;t there when the decisions were taken.

SOUNDBITE (German), Elmar BROK (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, We are patriots, we champion the interests of our countries and member states; nation states will continue to be the standard bearers for culture and diversity. But we don&rsquo;t have one or the other; we can have Nation states and Europe. The far right in this House will not rob us Europeans of the belief in our own nation state, which is a policy that belongs well in the past.

SOUNDBITE (German), Reimer B&#214;GE (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, We now need to be proactive, before and after the crisis, we need an additional fiscal capacity. We need to build up this fiscal capacity for the Eurozone but also open to non-Eurozone members. We need clear conditions to be attached to this and a clear agreement on financing.

SOUNDBITE (French), Pervenche BER&#200;S (S&amp;D, FR), Rapporteur, Brexit has come so the situation must change. For a very long time we have not been able to complete the European Monetary Union because we were waiting for the Brits to act. But now the Brits want to leave the Union, so the idea of consolidating this Eurozone, to make it the strong bedrock of the EU of 27 member states that I want to move towards, and that&rsquo;s something we can all rally around. We can have all member states coming around that, even those who are not part of the Eurozone yet. I don&rsquo;t want the non-Eurozone members to join a Eurozone which is incomplete. It is the moment to do it.

SOUNDBITE (English), Frans TIMMERMANS, First Vice-President of the EC in charge of Better Regulation, Inter-Institutional Relations, the Rule of Law and the Charter of Fundamental Rights, The Commission can only do so much. We can identify, analyse, recommend, warn and propose. But at the end of the day it is a responsibility of all of us, here in Strasbourg and in all of the Europe capitals, to deliver. This is not and cannot be a pick and choose Union. That&rsquo;s why we welcome the joint declaration by the three institutions setting out a share commitment to deliver on common priorities for this year.

SOUNDBITE (English), Frans TIMMERMANS, First Vice-President of the EC in charge of Better Regulation, Inter-Institutional Relations, the Rule of Law and the Charter of Fundamental Rights, Too many people in our Union have been left behind. And so the social dimension with the European pillar of social rights must become more and more important in strengthening the European and Monetary Union. Let me reiterate, we appreciate many of the proposals in the reports and will assess them carefully for our own reflection in the future.

SOUNDBITE (English), Petri SARVAMAA (EPP, FI), from Commitee on Budgets, Nigel (Farage), I think what you are witnessing  today and hearing today are only the first notes of a big big symphony that is going to be heard all over Europe this year, next year. It's not only Beethoven, is not only Bizet, it's Sibelius, it's others, equally,. So, let's not forget this week, this is really really important, these first steps that we are taking.