European Parliament
Strasbourg

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Centre-right Estonian MEP Tunne Kelam says it is "crucial" for the EU to make greater progress in implementing legislation for a single market in digital services.

"National protectionism" in this area should end, he says.

Echoing Theresa May's call yesterday for an end to "business as usual" with Russia, he says EU states "cannot continue" to ignore opposition to a planned extension of the Nord Stream gas pipeline.

Some central and eastern European states are concerned that the new pipeline from Russia to Germany might undermine EU plans to diversify its energy supply away.

The UK will come to "regret" the decision to leave the EU, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker warns.

European Parliament
Strasbourg

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Liberal ALDE group leader and Brexit point-man Guy Verhofstadt calls for a "common reaction" by the EU to the poisoning of former Russian agent Sergei Skripal.

Theresa May said yesterday that is was "highly likely" Russia was responsible for the attack - a claim the country has dismissed as "unfounded".

He adds that "counter-measures" should be made at an EU level in response to the "new aggression by the Kremlin".

However he says in return for this "solidarity" the UK should not seek to negotiate a "special deal" to avoid US steel tariffs "behind the back" of the EU.

The EU has "no interest" in starting a trade war with the US, he says. Instead of putting up tariffs the EU should offer the US a "new trade deal".

European Parliament
Strasbourg

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Flemish nationalist Helga Stevens, who sits in the ECR group, questions the "added value" of the new EU labour agency set to be outlined later today.

The creation of "expensive European agencies" should not be an "objective in itself", she says.

European Parliament
Strasbourg

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Jean-Claude Juncker opens his speech on the EU membership prospects of countries in the Western Balkans.

He says there will be "no fast-tracking" of applications and "no firm deadlines", he tells MEPs.

On the recent US decision to increase tariffs on steel and aluminium imports, he acknowledges that there is "overcapacity" in the world steel market but calls tariffs a "lose-lose for all".

The EU is "clearly not" a threat to the United States' national security, he adds. The bloc is not made up of "naive free traders" and is ready to respond if necessary, he adds.

That's the debate on the European Parliament's Brexit resolution finished - the draft text will be put to a vote tomorrow.

However, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker will stay with MEPs to debate next week’s summit of EU leaders in Brussels.

As well as discussing Brexit, leaders will debate the future of the eurozone, trade and taxation of the digital economy.

European Parliament
Strasbourg

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Responding to the debate, European Commission Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier says the EU "regrets" but "respects" the UK's decision to leave.

The responsibility of the EU negotiators is to find a deal that will preserve "our union", he adds.

The draft withdrawal treaty will "accelerate the discussions" with the UK over a legal text, noting that "time is short" for making necessary preparations for Brexit.

Existing models for economic co-operation are "on the table" he says, before switching from French into English to add that it is "the UK that is closing doors".

He asks whether the UK wants to distance itself from the European social model, noting that it will be a condition of ratification of any future deal.

On the Irish border issue, he says the EU is prepared to accept a proposal "that is better" than the so-called backstop proposal included in the draft withdrawal agreement.

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In the document MEPs repeat their call for “future partners” of affected citizens to get the same rights guaranteed as existing partners on exit day.

Under the interim deal agreed between the EU and UK in December, only spouses registered by the UK’s exit would have the right to join them.

It also repeats the call for any application process to be cost-free and involve only a “single form that is declaratory in nature”.

The UK government has said it might charge a fee for EU citizens to acquire the new “settled status” – although it would be roughly the same as what UK citizens are charged for similar documents.

MEPs also insist that EU citizens arriving in the UK during the post-Brexit transition period have the “same rights” as those arriving before.

The UK government has said it should be able to treat those people differently, since they will have arrived in the knowledge that the UK is leaving.

European Parliament
Strasbourg

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Conservative MEP John Flack calls for the EU and UK to "negotiate as equals".

"Do not try and bully us", he adds.

He says the UK is offering the EU "tens of billions of pounds in aid" as part of the divorce talks, to "plug the holes in your budget".

European Parliament
Strasbourg

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Sinn Fein MEP Matt Carthy says the proposals on the Irish border in the European Parliament's resolution "are to be welcomed".

Support for giving Northern Ireland "special status" in the Brexit deal is growing, he says.

The UK government, he adds, has not presented "a single realistic proposal" on the Irish border, he adds.

The backstop proposal of the EU of keeping regulatory alignment in Northern Ireland is "not perfect" but provides "much-needed certainty", he tells the chamber.

European Parliament
Strasbourg

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The DUP's Diane Dodds says the EU has been lacking a "spirit of conciliation and compromise".

The proposed 'backstop' solution for resolving the Irish border issue included in the draft withdrawal treaty constitutes "aggressive interference" in the UK's internal affairs, she says.

It is a treaty that "no British prime minister could agree to", she adds.

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Strasbourg

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Interim UKIP leader Gerard Batten says the European Commission "wants unconditional surrender" from the UK negotiators.

Theresa May will settle for "conditional surrender", he says.

"UKIP's position is no surrender", he says, adding that the party will not accept "subservience" to the EU in the future relationship.

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Strasbourg

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German conservative Hans-Olaf Henkel says that Brexit remains a "lose-lose situation" for both sides.

However, he adds that "nobody in this house trying to stop it".

He calls for the EU to make the UK "an offer they can't refuse" by offering more autonomy over immigration policy in a bid to keep the UK inside the bloc.

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Strasbourg

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Labour's leader in the European Parliament, Richard Corbett, says the proposals in the assembly's resolution "cannot be a surprise" to the British negotiators.

The text is simply a response to the "ambiguities and contradictions" of the UK position, he adds.

MEPs are "waiting with baited breath" for proposals for how the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland can be turned into a customs border without customs controls, he says.

He likens suggestions that the issue can be resolved electronically to "sending Harry Potter to the border" to find a solution.

The draft text says the EU and UK should maintain a close relationship but that only membership of the single market can guarantee “frictionless trade”.

Market access to sell services in trade agreements is “limited and always subject to exclusions, reservations and exceptions”, it adds.

It adds that British banks will lose passporting rights unless the EU unilaterally decides to consider UK financial rules as equivalent.

These rights currently allow banks to serve clients across the EU without the need for licences in individual countries.

It suggests that the UK and EU agree to implement a “tuned tariff and quota system” for imports from countries that already have a trade deal with the EU.

European Parliament
Strasbourg

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Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage says "two thirds" of people in the UK think that the European Commission is "trying to bully us".

He says EU commissioners exercise "power without accountability" but they may have "met their match" with US President Donald Trump.

The UK finds itself "trapped" inside the EU's common commercial policy, meaning it cannot negotiate its own arrangement with the US to avoid its new tariffs on steel and aluminium, he says.

"We could do a deal with America in forty-eight hours", he adds, to some heckling.

The situation shows the "folly" of agreeing to a transition period after Brexit, he says.

European Parliament
Strasbourg

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Belgian MEP Philippe Lamberts, the co-leader of the Green/EFA group, says the UK's Brexit position contains "inner contradictions".

Finding a way for the UK to leave the customs union and single market, whilst respecting the Good Friday Agreement and creating no new regulatory barriers within the UK is a "trilemma that cannot be solved", he tells MEPs.

"This has nothing to do with the alleged stubbornness of the EU27, it has everything to do with the stubbornness of facts", he says.

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Strasbourg

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Guy Verhofstadt, who leads the Liberal ALDE group and is also the Parliament's chief Brexit spokesman, says the UK has not put forward its own proposals for a future relationship.

Theresa May's speech at Mansion House simply "repeated red lines" that have already been known for two years.

He tells MEPs that the association agreement proposal in tomorrow's resolution will prevent an "inflation" of different accords.

He is "quite confident", he says, that the UK will eventually see the benefits of following this approach.

European Parliament
Strasbourg

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Veteran German Christian democrat Elmar Brok, who sits on the assembly's Brexit steering committee, says the UK's exit from the EU is about "damage limitation".

Donald Trump's recent decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminium shows the need for EU countries to "stand together", he adds.

Dutch conservative Peter van Dalen says the future deal must allow students to continue studying across borders.