During the EP plenary session (2-5 October 2017) in Strasbourg, MEPs take stock of progress in the Brexit talks with Jean-Claude JUNCKER, President of the EC and Michel BARNIER, EU chief negotiator. Debate on the state of play of negotiations with the United Kingdom. Statements by Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), Gianni PITTELLA (S&D, IT), Raffaele FITTO (ECR, IT), EP coordinator for the negotiations with the UK, Martina ANDERSON (GUE/NGL, UK) and Philippe LAMBERTS (Greens/EFA, BE).

VERHOFSTADT, Guy (Renew, BE)

Brexit (T)

article 50 of the Lisbon treaty (T)

Strasbourg

debate

plenary session

WEBER, Manfred (EPP, DE)

PITTELLA, Gianni (S&D, IT)

ANDERSON, Martina (GUE/NGL, UK)

FITTO, Raffaele (ECR, IT)

LAMBERTS, Philippe (Greens/EFA, BE)

Brexit - State of play of negotiations with the United Kingdom: extracts from the debate

SOUNDBITE (English), Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), We shouldn&rsquo;t speak too much about the transitional period because we are already in a transitional period, we need clear results in 2019, otherwise the consent of the EP is not guaranteed; a country outside of the Union cannot have the same advantages than a country which is member of the club.

SOUNDBITE (Italian), Gianni PITTELLA (S&amp;D, IT), We cannot accept a situation in which the UK would strip the rights from the citizens living in the UK and subject them to administrative procedures that would actually discriminate them; we socialist will never accept a situation in which you have first and second class citizens.

SOUNDBITE (Italian), Raffaele FITTO (ECR, IT), We have to bear in mind that in 2019 the UK will be in fact a third country. In the ECR group we are disturbed that Parliament with this resolution has not accelerated into the second phase of negotiations, we understand the reasons, because even the second phase doesn&rsquo;t represent a solution, but this is just going to complicate the situation.

SOUNDBITE (English), Guy VERHOFSTADT, EP coordinator for the negotiations with the UK, The worst thing that can happen is that we lose the peace that Europe has brought there in Northern Ireland, with the efforts that the EU have done (...) To secure that this violence doesn&rsquo;t returns is an absolute priority for our House and that means, why not, it&rsquo;s a question that I put forward to negotiators, why not to attach the Good Friday Agreement as a declaration to the withdrawal agreement that we are going to secure?

SOUNDBITE (English), Guy VERHOFSTADT, EP coordinator for the negotiations with the UK, Let&rsquo;s give the same rights to the people living in the UK, now EU citizens, as they have now, and let&rsquo;s do exactly the same for the UK citizens living on the continent.

SOUNDBITE (English), Martina ANDERSON (GUE/NGL, UK), The Good Friday agreement in all of its parts includes, as this resolution recognises, (Northern Ireland) being in the single market and the customs Union. Britain should remain in the single market and the customs Union but if it does not, then the North of Ireland must. There are different ways that this could be done; in some form it could mean the North of Ireland staying in the EU or it could mean Irish unity, and the Good Friday agreement has provisions for a Unity poll, a right to decide. Otherwise we are not upholding the Good Friday agreement in all of its parts.

SOUNDBITE (English), Philippe LAMBERTS (Greens/EFA, BE), A majority of the British voters instructed Her Majesty&rsquo;s government to negotiate Brexit, let us respect that democratic vote and do just that without further delay. But if we want to be fair to those same citizens, let them or at least, those who have been elected to represent them have the last word on this story. When confronted with the result of the negotiations who knows what they might ultimately decide.

I do actually agree with the criticisms that I heard around the room about the mixed messages coming out from the UK government. I just hope that in Manchester the Conservative party starts to say in public whet they all say to me in private, that she&rsquo;s a waste of space, she needs to go, we need a proper prime minister who says to Mr Barnier: &lsquo;ok, here is the deadline, here is a date, we work towards that date, if we can&rsquo;t reach a sensible deal on trade and everything else then we are simply leaving and reverting to WTO rules, this charade cannot go on for year after year: after all we voted Brexit.