Ahead of the European Council - Informal dinner of heads of state or government, ALDE leaders meet at Egmont Palace in Brussels. Arrivals and statements.

Brussels

meeting

European Council (T2)

ALDE

2019 European elections (T)

ALDE leaders meet ahead of the European Council - Informal dinner of heads of state or government: arrivals and statements

Exteriror view of the Egmont Palace in Brussels

Arrival of Andrus ANSIP, Vice President, European Commissioner for Digital Single Market and Hans van BAALEN, ALDE Party President

SOUNDBITE (English), Andrus ANSIP, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Digital Single Market, We have very good Spitzenkandidats, but too many and not so many posts, so we have to agree. It it is not possible to reach this compromise when we have to choose only between Spitzenkandidats we have to enlarge the circle.

Arrival of Guy VERHOFSTADT, leader of the ALDE Group in the European Parliament

SOUNDBITE (English), Guy VERHOFSTADT, leader of the ALDE Group in the European Parliament, [Matteo Salvini] was the only one for the populist and the nationalist [that won more votes]. But the biggest win was for the Liberals, maybe you did not find it out that evening of the elections but we won the most seats, more than 40 and that make us the biggest group now with around 110 [seats]. Maybe even more in the coming days and our priority would be that based on this new balance of power in the EP there will be tough, modern, active agreements between the future majority in the House. 

Arrival of Sir John Vincent CABLE, British politician who has served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats

SOUNDBITE (English), Vincent CABLE, Leader of the Liberal Democrats, We are not looking for Brexit here, we are looking for staying, I am representing the Liberal Democrats and our 16 MEPs and they are here for the five years, not looking to leave in October.

Arrival of Alberto RIVERA, leader of Spanish Ciudadanos party

SOUNDBITE (English), leader of Spanish Ciudadanos party&#160; Alberto RIVERA, The President of the [European] Parliament, [Antonio] TAJANI, said some time ago that it is imposible to get these seats [three Catalan independence activists elected as MEPs] because they are in a proceeding in our country. It does not have any sense that someone in a judgement. We need in the Parliament people who defend Europe, not people who try to destroy Europe and the EU Member States.

Arrival of Xavier BETTEL, Prime Minister of Luxembourg

SOUNDBITE (English), Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister, The Conservatives has to do their choices. I just can tell you that Theresa May did really the best possible thing for the UK. She was a respected member of the European Council and I will miss her. But who will be the successor of Theresa May it will be the choice of the Tories. We are negotiators, it is finished. We are not going to reopen all the negotiations, it is not because people changed that Treaties or texts would change. That would be the new style of politics.

Arrival of Margrethe VESTAGER, ALDE lead candidate as member of Team Europe

SOUNDBITE (English), Margrethe VESTAGER, ALDE lead candidate as member of Team Europe, There are women to pick from and a gender balanced Commission so that we show that we have changed but let's see.

Arrival of Vĕra JOUROV&Aacute;, European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality

SOUNDBITE (English), V&#277;ra JOUROV&#193;, Member of the EC in charge of Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, I have no predictions but I am sure there will be a rational constructive dialogue today.

Arrival of Cecilia MALMSTR&Ouml;M, European Commissioner for Trade

SOUNDBITE (English), Cecilia MALMSTR&#214;M, Member of the EC in charge of Trade, Absolutely [supporting Margrethe VESTAGER] because she is the best.

Arrival of Juha SIPIL&Auml;, Prime Minister of Finland and admitting supporting Margrethe VESTAGER.

Arrival of Mark RUTTE, Prime Minister of the Netherlands

SOUNDBITE (English), Mark RUTTE, Dutch Prime Minister, We are going to focus on the next five years in terms of content and based on that deciding what will be the best person to fit that list of priorities. If the priorities are about climate change, about a strong economy which is also providing protection, migration and defending our outer borders. For example, if those are our priorities for the next five years, the next steps will be to discuss the best person to fit that profile. 

Arrival of Charles MICHEL, Prime Minister of Belgium

Exterior view of the patio of the Egmont Palace in Brussels