Brussels, 24/06/2016 (Agence Europe) - When the result of the British referendum were announced on Friday 24 June, pro-European groups at the European Parliament regretted the decision by the British to leave the European Union. They want the negotiations on the British withdrawal to start as soon as possible in order to minimise uncertainty. Several of tem feel that the political shockwaves of Brexit would lead Europe to rethink the European project.
The European Parliament will hold a special plenary session on Tuesday 28 June, announced its president, Germany's Martin Schulz, after a meeting of the Conference of Presidents of the political groups. As a result of this, all the committee meetings planned for Monday 27 June have been cancelled. The EP will pass a resolution in order to assess the result and the consequences of the British decision to leave the EU, and to describe the next stages, added Schulz, saying that the agreement reached in February on the new relations between the EU and the United Kingdom was “null and void” (see EUROPE 11495).
The leaders of the EPP group, Germany's Manfred Weber, the S&D, Italy's Gianni Pittella, the ALDE, Belgium's Guy Verhofstadt, and the GUE/NGL, Germany's Gabriele Zimmer, all called for the talks between the EU and the EU27 to begin as soon as possible. “We can't wait for the Tories to appoint a new prime minister”, said Weber, wanting the talks to begin immediately. He said Brexit was first and foremost a British problem, as shown by the fall of the pound on the markets. Pittella called the move by the British prime minister, David Cameron, to postpone until after the holding of a Conservative Party conference in October the official notification by the British government of its desire to leave the EU. Verhofstadt said the hypothesis that the UK's notification would not occur until 2016 went against the desire of the British and could lead to contagion across the EU Zimmer said he was “astonished” by Cameron's attitude and warned against “a dirty political game” by the British prime minister. She said that if the UK does not notify its desire to leave the EU to the 28/29 June summit, the European Council should decide that the launch date for the withdrawal negations (under Article 50 of the EU treaty) should be the date of the referendum, Thursday 23 June. She backed the calls from Northern Ireland and Scotland for a vote on whether these two regions of the UK should remain in the EU.
Playing for time, the head of the CRE group, Syed Kamall (UK), who had called for people to vote to leave the EU (see EUROPE 11510), said it was crucial to show they had a plan in place for negotiating an agreement that would enable the UK to be a “good neighbour rather than a reluctant tenant”. He said time would be needed because of the summer break and the fact it was important for the process to take the time necessary to get a good agreement.
Rethinking the European project. Many MEPs described the Brexit vote as an alarm call that should lead the EU27 to rethink the European project in the face of eurosceptics and Europhobes who want to take advantage of the vote to win the same agenda in their own countries.
Weber said a period of reflection should begin in order to consider what is necessary for improving the EU and making it more democratic. He said the role of the European Parliament should be reinforced. Rejecting any idea of a funeral for Europe, Pittella hoped the Brexit shockwave would be a new start for Europe. In order to win back citizens' trust, he said there should be a fight against unemployment and the marginalisation of a large section of the population, an end to economic austerity that has been a “disaster”, and a halt to social and fiscal dumping He called for the creation of a Finance and Budget minister job at European level and the direct election of the president of the European Commission. He added that the social democrat family would hold a 'Convention' in September or October to provide ideas for greater political integration to boost common security, defence and management of immigration policies. Pleased that the referendum clarifies an uncertain situation that has lasted for nearly 40 years, Guy Verhofstadt said there was only one way to go - rethinking the European project starting from the original idea of the Founding Fathers, with a “smaller and less bureaucratic” Europe since the EU today does too little too late because of the unanimous voting rule. He pointed out that in October, the European Parliament will produce three reports on the future of the EU: a report on necessary changes without changing the treaties, a report on eurozone governance in the decades to come and a report on the future of the EU over and beyond the current treaties. It is time to find answers to the beckoning gaps created between North and South, and East and West, in Europe, said the co-president of the Greens/EFA group, Germany's Rebecca Harms. She said the pro-European camp must find an answer to the refugee crisis that was used as a scarecrow to the benefit of Brexit supporters. Zimmer said the time was more for consolidating the existing building rather than political deepening. In order to win back the hearts of citizens, she called for the introduction of a social component in common policies, the famous 'triple social AAA' promoted by the president of the Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, “that the EU is not capable of bringing about”.
On behalf of the Spinelli group, Isabelle Durant (Greens/EFA, Belgium) called for the establishment of a Convention of MPs and MEPs and involving civil society. “It's time to defend Europe as a political project”, she said. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)