EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told MEPs that the EU is 'not at risk' from Brexit during his state of the union speech.
This afternoon, EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager joined MEPs to debate the Commission's recent tax ruling on Ireland and Apple.
MEPs debated legislation to set up an updated European travel document to speed up the process of deporting migrants who do not have the legal right to stay in the EU.
They also discussed a plan from the EU Commission to transfer 54,000 places from its two-year asylum seeker relocation scheme.
Voting session
European Parliament
Strasbourg
MEPs vote to ratify a trade partnership agreement between the EU and six countries in southern Africa.
The agreement will lower trade duties on a number of products imported from Namibia, Mozambique, Botswana, Swaziland and Lesotho – and will offer improved EU market access for South Africa.
'State of the European Union' speech
Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage says he is "pleased we voted to Leave"; and accuses President Juncker of offering up the "same recipe" of greater economic and military integration.
European Parliament
Strasbourg
With the debate on Jean-Claude Juncker’s “state of the union” finished, MEPs are now taking their seats before today’s voting session.
'State of European Union' speech
European Parliament
Strasbourg
Ex-UKIP leader Nigel Farage uses a short second speech to pick up on the announcements on EU defence co-operation, which he said Leave campaigners had warned against during the referendum.
"Well, here it is," he says.
He predicts that it will be impossible to run a closer EU defence programme alongside Nato "without one competing against the other", and calls the idea "potentially very dangerous".
Guy Verhofstadt uses his second speech to respond to criticisms levelled at him by Mr Farage earlier.
He argues that Mr Farage's "real agenda", and the reason why he "continues to sit here" in the European Parliament, is to "destroy the European Union".
'State of the European Union' speech
EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker says the EU 'regrets and respects' Brexit.
'State of European Union' speech
European Parliament
Strasbourg
Responding to the debate among MEPs, President Juncker says the EU is "intensively involved" in talks with Turkey over granting the country visa-free travel rights to the Schengen area.
He says, however, that the rights will only be granted when "all of the necessary preconditions are met by the Turkish side".
Pledging to speed up Turkey's visa liberalisation bid was of the key part of the migration deal, external that EU states struck with the country earlier this year, but has been hit by delays.
Mr Juncker also pledges that liberalisation "will not be possible" without reforms to Turkey's anti-terror laws.
'State of European Union' speech
European Parliament
Strasbourg
Labour MEP Richard Corbett predicts the "mother of all divorce cases" once Brexit talks formally begin.
He says that the UK government is rapidly discovering new problems "never mentioned by the Leave campaign" - and has "no clue about what it wants to do about most of these issues".
He says the country faces an "unpalatable choice" between tariffs on trade outside of the single market or betraying a promise to curb migration by remaining within it.
He says that in the UK and in Europe, "calls for a rethink" are growing.
DUP MEP tweets
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More reaction to the speech is coming in from media outlets across Europe, as journalists start to digest some of today's policy announcements.
At French daily Le Monde, Brussels correspondent Cecile Ducourtieux sees a "striking contrast", external with Mr Juncker's speech last year, including "lot less swagger".
She says Mr Juncker wants to "relaunch the weakened European Commission" through a campaign against fraud and tax evasion, but knows that he has "little room for manoeuvre given the upcoming elections in France and Germany".
Meanwhile, Italian media have picked up on the comments in Mr Juncker's speech focusing on the need for a more "social Europe" to tackle inequality and unemployment.
Corriere della Sera highlights, external his call for more investment, while La Stampa also focuses, external on his comment that stronger growth is needed to bring down unemployment.
Politico Europe senior correspondent tweets:
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Janusz Lewandowski, from the centrist Civic Platform party that lost power in Poland last year, says that "clones" of Nigel Farage are "springing up in many countries".
He says EU citizens would be mistaken in believing that in the modern world, the nation-state will guarantee their security.
He urges EU leaders meeting in Bratislava this weekend to try to put aside their differences and search for "common denominators".
'State of European Union' speech
European Parliament
Strasbourg
SNP MEP Ian Hudghton says the Scottish government is working to make sure the "democratic will" of people in Remain-voting Scotland is respected in the eventual Brexit negotiations.
He adds that members of the European Parliament are open to "imaginatively finding a way" to incorporate this in the final deal.
"That would be solidarity," he adds.
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'State of European Union' speech
European Parliament
Strasbourg
French Front National leader Marine Le Pen derides President Juncker's speech as "insipid", and "almost like a funeral for the European Union".
The Brexit vote, she says, has "shown us that you can leave the European Union" without the "shocks" predicted by the leaders in the EU institutions.
'State of the European Union' speech
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Meanwhile, the German news magazine Der Spiegel, externalsays that in his speech, Mr Juncker "complained in no uncertain terms about the national egoism of EU states".
Der Spiegel's headline highlights Mr Juncker's warning of an "existential crisis" within the EU.
Scottish MEP tweets
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'State of European Union' speech
European Parliament
Strasbourg
Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage says that, on hearing Mr Juncker's speech, he is "pleased we voted to Leave".
He says the policy proposals show that "no lessons" have been learned from Brexit, and accuses President Juncker of offering up the "same recipe" of greater economic and military integration.
He says he agrees with the calls for formal exit talks to start sooner rather than later, adding that the UK government "ought to get on with it".
He says if the EU insists on demanding freedom of movement as the price for full access to the single market, then it will "inevitably drive us towards no deal".
He takes aim at Parliament Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt, describing him as a "fanatic" and an "EU nationalist" whose appointment is a "declaration of war" on prospects for a sensible negotiation.
'State of European Union' speech
European Parliament
Strasbourg
German MEP Rebecca Harms, the co-leader of the Green/EFA group, says that European values "can better be protected together".
She says that the EU should not concentrate immediately on institutional changes, but rather attempt to restore trust in the "open, liberal society".
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'State of European Union' speech
European Parliament
Strasbourg
Guy Verhofstadt, the former Belgian prime minister who leads the Liberal ALDE group, says the EU is facing a "split between generations" between more pro-EU young people and an older generation that continues to have "huge problems with it".
He says that a number of modern political problems - including combating terrorism and tax avoidance from multinationals - can only be tackled by using "supranational instruments".
Mr Verhofstadt - who was recently appointed the Parliament's chief observer on Brexit negotiations - says the EU still offers the "cure" against "the cancer of nationalism" rising in Europe.
He says Brexit will not be "a matter of revenge", but should be seen as "an opportunity" to end the "dramatic complexity" of the EU's governing structures.
