Speaking during today’s debate in the European Parliament on negotiations with the UK’s on their withdrawal from the EU, ECR Group members have warned that unless discussions move forward to the future EU - UK trade relationship then both sides, their businesses and citizens will suffer.

ECR Group Italian MEP Raffaele Fitto said:

“It would be a grave error to continue to try further dividing both sides, attempting to prevail over one another. We need to work to overcome this phase of negotiations marred by divisions created by details rather than principles - delaying the start of the second phase is not a solution and risks complicating the situation. 

“Our co-citizens and businesses are asking for certainty in their daily lives. It is our duty to secure legal and economic framework for our citizens, businesses and for future EU-UK relations.

“We must be much more realistic than politics usually allows us to be— and I say this with great frankness; we must come to a compromise and keep in mind the fact that in 2019, the United Kingdom will in fact be a third-party country.”

ECR Group Vice-Chair Hans Olaf Henkel said:

“With Britain, we are now losing the last advocate for decentralisation, competitiveness and self-responsibility. I consider this catastrophic much less for Britain than for the E.U. It was the mantra for more Europe, more centralisation, more solidarity which led to the referendum in the first place.

“Now we need to move forward. The British Government cannot negotiate with itself - the EU side now needs to sit down at the table and start helping to move discussions forward as well.”

ENDS

Press Contact: Jan Krelina, +32493214346, jan.krelina@europarl.europa.eu

The ECR was created to take the EU in a new direction, according to the principles of our founding Prague Declaration. It is the third largest group in the European Parliament with 74 MEPs from 18 EU states.

For more information on the ECR, watch our promotional video at http://youtu.be/F5syQt1JuQI or visit our website: www.ecrgroup.eu