In 2020, The UK Withdrawal Agreement was approved by the European Parliament and the EP followed closely the work of the EU negotiator Michel Barnier. MEPs criticised the role of Turkey in the Easter Mediterranean and called for an international investigation into the Navalny case. The Parliament's 2020 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought was awarded to the democratic opposition in Belarus.

Brexit (T)

EU - Russia (T)

EU - USA (T)

EU - Belarus (T)

BARNIER, Michel (FR)

McALLISTER, David (EPP, DE)

SASSOLI, David Maria (S&D, IT, S&D, IT)

negotiations on future EU-UK relations (T)

TSIKHANOUSKAYA, Sviatlana (BY)

NAVALNY, Alexei (RU)

European Parliament review 2020: EU relations in the world

Generic review 2020 EU relations in the world

SOUNDBITE (Italian), David SASSOLI, EP President, 29/01/2020, Are you ready? The Verhofstadt report roll call vote: the vote is open. The vote is closed. 683 have cast their vote, 621 in favour, 49 against, 13 abstentions.

29/01/2020, MEPs standing up and singing  "Auld Lang Syne".

29/01/2020, Removal of UK flag from the European Parliament.

SOUNDBITE (Italian), David SASSOLI, EP President, We're here today to take stock of the talks that we've held with our British friends, support what we've realised. That the European Union has obtained many advantages from these talks since it has confirmed the fact that it is far more United States, that we share the awareness of a precious European area, not just for Europeans, but for the whole world. We have a European market, which, of course, is the largest economic market in the world. From tomorrow onwards, we will have to get down to discussions with our British friends, which will take a lot of hard work.

SOUNDBITE (French), Michel BARNIER, Head of Task Force for Relations with the United Kingdom, 11/02/2020, Le Royaume Unit quittera le 31 d&eacute;cembre cette ann&eacute;e le march&eacute; unique et l&rsquo;Union douani&egrave;re. C&rsquo;est un choix, ce choix du temps fix&eacute; par le premier ministre britannique, pas par nous et il faut que chacun comprenne bien que ce temps contraint, avant que le Royaume Unit quitte le march&eacute; unit et l&rsquo;union douani&egrave;re, ce temps de contraint choisi par le premier ministre britannique a des cons&eacute;quences et chacun doit assumer ces cons&eacute;quences et chaq'un doit assumer ces consequences.

SOUNDBITE (English), Christophe HANSEN (EPP, LU), co-rapporteur, We want to have one agreement, which includes fisheries. The United Kingdom is selling 70 % of their fishery products directly into the into the European Union. So we have to find the agreement before. And on the other side, 40 % of our European fisheries fleets are fishing in waters in UK waters. So this has to do we have to find a good solution here.

SOUNDBITE (English), David McALLISTER (EPP, DE), Chair of the Parliament&apos;s EU-UK Coordination Group, 18/06/2020, The European Parliament will continue not to accept any kind of &ldquo;cherry picking&rdquo; the political declaration painstakingly negotiated by both sides last year provides our framework for the future relationship and we should stick to it. The European citizens and businesses want clarity on what to expect on the 1st of January 2021. We hope for the best but in parallel, we will need to step up our no deal preparations. The European Parliament will not agree on a deal at any cost.

SOUNDBITE (Romanian), Dacian CIOLO&#350; (RE, RO), Renew Chair, Let's build a Europe that does not waver in front of a British prime minister who is starting to lose his landmarks or a Turkish leader who has a visible nationalist fever and a Putin eager to sow discord. A Europe that does not leave behind rural areas with an agriculture in which digital and greening are not there to create bureaucracy, but to generate income for farmers and consumer welfare. (Brussels - 16/09/2020)

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Iratxe GARC&#205;A P&#201;REZ (S&amp;D, ES), S&amp;D Chair, 10/03/2020, We must give all our support to Greece. Greece deserves our responsibility. Because Greece is falling victim to the Council's lack of responsibility facing the blockade of the Dublin reform.

SOUNDBITE (English), Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), EPP Chair, 23/07/2020 This is not only a Greek-Turkish issue it is not only e Cyprus-Turkish issue, it is a European-Turkish issue and that&rsquo;w why in the presence of president Michel and president Von der Leyen we have to give clear signals as we stand on the side of our citizens in Greece and in Cyprus and I think we should keep the dialogue open, there is no doubt about this but now it is also time to act probably consider also sanctions agains Turkey. We have to act and we have to act now.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Iratxe GARC&#205;A P&#201;REZ, S&amp;D Chair, "I can't breathe." George Floyd's words during a long agony of more than eight minutes and 46 seconds are not only the cry of an instant, but the injustice and reality of our time.

SOUNDBITE (French), Isabel WISELER-LIMA (EPP, LU), 17/06/2020, The violent death of George Floyd has revived around the world the need to affirm the rejection of racism and the rejection of the police abuse. This movement of all colors and brings together so many young people and gives hope for the future. But I would also like to express my admiration for all the other police officers who do their job in an exemplary manner and for whom being a police officer is not only a profession, but a true vocation.

SOUNDBITE (French), Younous OMARJEE (GUE/NGL, FR), 17/06/2020, A tragic news item has become a major political event. The freezing eight minutes of George Floyd's assassination set hundreds of thousands of people around the world back away to adress structural racism and police violence.

SOUNDBITE (Italian), David SASSOLI, EP President, 07/11/2020, We have been following the US presidential election very carefully. Election of a great partner of the European Union, an ally with whom we have come such a long way in the contemporary era and whom we want to continue working with.To new President Joe Biden, Our best wishes for good work. The world needs a strong relationship between Europe and the United States for a revival of transatlantic relations that can meet the challenges that our time presents us.

SOUNDBITE (English),  Alexei NAVALNY, Founder of the Russian Foundation for the fight against corruption, 27/11/2020, So but I would say that there is no sense to sanction colonels or generals or some people who have definitely not travelled a lot all over the world and definitely don't have a lot of estate of. Bank accounts in Europe are the main question we should ask ourselves, why are these people poisoning, killing and fabricating? And the answer is very, very simple money. So a European Union should target the money and Russian oligarchs, not just old oligarchs, but also new ones like this circle of Mr. Putin.

SOUNDBITE (English), David McALLISTER (EPP, DE), EP Chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, 21/09/2020, We reject the result of the so called "presidential elections" that took place in Belarus on the 9th of August as they were conducted in flagrant violation of all internationaly recognized standards. We will not recognize Mr. Loukachenko as president of Belarus once his current term of office expires.

SOUNDBITE (English), Sviatlana TSIKHANOUSKAYA, Belarusian democratic opposition and co-laureate of Sakharov Prize 2020 , 21/09/2020, First of all, looking at me and at all these people, you have to understand that we have been living for 26 years under the pressure of regime of dictatorship. We, all these years, we were afraid. All these years we were sleeping. But now the Belarussian people have woken up. And seven weeks in a row everyday, we are going out for demonstrations. These people protect a protest against falsified elections, against one person, who usurped the power.