Europeans remain united and citizens’ rights are the European Parliament’s priority, MEPs said on Wednesday, a day after the UK House of Commons voted by a decisive majority to reject the Withdrawal Agreement reached between London and the EU.
The vote has thrown the whole Brexit process into disarray. In the debate on Brexit on Wednesday morning, MEPs said a no-deal exit would be in nobody’s interests.
They also said that it was now up to the UK government and UK Parliament to let the EU know where a positive majority lies and what type of relationship they want with the European Union.
The EU’s Brexit chief negotiator Michel Barnier told the European Parliament that the Withdrawal agreement is the best and only compromise possible within the red lines established by the UK government. It allows for legal certainty where Brexit creates uncertainty, he said.
The EU will not accept established guidelines to be watered down, including the peace process and the border on the island of Ireland or on citizens’ rights, added Frans Timmermans for the European Commission.
The EU will intensify its preparation and contingency work with the member states and the EP, added Melania Ciot, on behalf of the Romanian Council Presidency
EP Brexit coordinator, Guy Verhofstadt (ALDE, BE) called for a cross-party dialogue in the UK in order to build a positive majority to break the deadlock and possibly redefine the UK’s red lines. He underlined that changes in the UK’s position might allow a deeper future relationship between the UK and the EU to be considered. Britain’s parties must rise above their own interests and cooperate on a Brexit solution they all support.
And the the leader of the European Parliament’s biggest centre-right party Manfred Weber said he saw no possibility to renegotiate the Brexit withdrawal deal.
