Following the Spring European Council that took place on 21-22 March in Brussels, several MEPs statements following the Council decisions on Brexit.

Brussels

Brexit (T)

article 50 of the Lisbon treaty (T)

statement

WEBER, Manfred (EPP, DE)

McGUINNESS, Mairead (EPP, IE)

European Council meeting 21-22 March 2019 (T)

European Council 21-22 March in Brussels: statements by Mairead MCGUINNESS (EPP, IE) and Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE) following the Council decisions on Brexit

SOUNDBITE (English), Mairead MCGUINNESS (EPP, IE), I think the British people Do you understand what&rsquo;s happening at the moment. They know that the Brexit process was not quite what they have been told in 2016. My message to the British people is that here in the Council and in the European Parliament we are working very hard for an orderly Brexit. I suppose we do need to see that the plan that British Prime Minister has in place will work. Because we want to facilitate an orderly Brexit so perhaps we will need a short extension , or indeed even a longer one .

But for me that&rsquo;s not the issue, the issue must be whether the extension is meaningful or meaningless and I think that is the critical question. And I know many British friends who are perturbed by what is happening and I have empathy with them because uncertainty and confusion over Brexit is not helping people, it really sucks confidence for business and for society generally . Is not good for the European Union we have many things to deal with and yet Brexit remains this dark cloud that we are trying to resolve. So I would like to reassure the British public that we do understand the difficulties in their political system but we also have issues ourselves and we would plead for a plan, but a plan that will work.

SOUNDBITE (English), Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), Can I be very frank ? I&rsquo;m a leader of EPP party and responsible for the European Union that&rsquo;s why the Brits are not any more the citizens which I have to care about . They decided to leave the European Union and they are alone in the future. They are not any more protected by European Union? a big and strong community . So it was a mistake to go in this direction, and I do regret it deeply, that they go in this direction, but they decided to do so. What I have to do now is to protect the 440 million Europeans and their interest . That&rsquo;s it is our job to do , the people in Europe must have the insurance that European politicians take care about their interest and not anymore about the British interests.