Opening the European Parliament debate assessing the Westminster
vote on the UK`s withdrawal from the EU on Tuesday evening,
President stated:
“Yesterday, the British Parliament voted by a large majority
against the agreement that has been negotiated over the last two
years with the European Union. We take note of this vote,
although not without regret, and we respect it because it
expresses the will of the majority of the political forces in the
House of Commons.
However, this vote must be interpreted correctly. We cannot
overlook the fact that these various forces voted against the
agreement for diametrically opposed reasons, some concerned about
the backstop, others hoping for a closer relationship with the
Union in the future by, for example, staying in the Customs
Union.
It is too early to assess the consequences of this vote, but we
are certainly not yet in a no-deal situation. Moreover,
there is no majority in Westminster for that either. We
understand that there are two negative majorities in the British
parliament, one against the agreement and the other against the
possibility of leaving the Union without agreement, but there is
no positive majority.
We therefore hope that work will begin to build a majority in
favour of a shared solution as soon as possible and we look
forward to hearing how the British government intends to proceed.
We, for our part, are ready to be ambitious with regards to our
future relations with the United Kingdom, were the British
government to share this ambition and decide to change the red
lines it had imposed on itself.
The European Parliament has complete confidence in our
negotiator, , who has conducted the
negotiations with the United Kingdom with moderation,
intelligence and wisdom.
If it is not possible to be more ambitious, we will be faced with
an exit without agreement. It would, however, have negative
effects in every respect for all. Otherwise, we will be faced
with an exit without an agreement which would be a catastrophe in
every respect.
We will certainly have to continue our preparations to deal with
the possibility of an exit without an agreement, thinking in
particular of the citizens of the Union living in the United
Kingdom and the British on the continent who, more than anyone
else, suffer from uncertainty and would be the first victims of a
disorderly exit.
We must continue to follow the Irish situation closely and stand
by Ireland’s side. We must ensure that that border between
Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland is a flexible border
but that at the same time the interests of European health,
agriculture and food industry are safeguarded.
Finally, even at this juncture, we must maintain unity among
Member States and the institutions that we have managed to build
up during these long and difficult negotiations showing that the
Union, in difficult situations, works well.”