Ahead of today's vote in the European Parliament on the UK Withdrawal Agreement, ECR Group Co-Chairs Raffaele Fitto and Ryszard Legutko have warned the EU about trying to overplay its hand in negotiations on the future partnership and called for lessons to be learnt on the EU's future direction.
Commenting, Fitto said:
“Now is not the time for Brussels to try and overplay its hand. Attempting to play tough has already set us on a course towards a more distant relationship with the UK, which was never in our interest. We need to quickly get past the politics and start thinking strategically about our future partnership with the UK, and making sure we do not push them even further away.”
Summing up the wider concerns over the EU and Brexit, Legutko said:
“We should at least welcome that this deal is now in place and we can start to provide the certainty for our citizens and businesses that they have been desperately asking for. But we should not look past the fact that Brexit is a disaster for the EU and one that could easily have been avoided.
“The EU needs to learn the lessons fast and start engaging with people on what their real priorities and concerns are, not pushing the case for deeper integration. This has to be a wake-up call.”
