Wednesday, September 18, 2019
ECPM MEPs Statement on Brexit
The European Parliament met today in Strasbourg to debate and vote on a resolution to extend the deadline for UK to leave the EU. It passed, after a lively debate.
Our MEPs are in favor of the resolution and issued the following statement on the matter:
"We regret that the UK chose to leave the EU. We as ECPM MEPs believe that it will harm the UK and its relations with the EU. It is harmful for many EU citizens in the UK and British citizens in the EU.
Since a ‘No Deal Brexit’ would harm so many people and their businesses, both the UK and EU should try their utmost to avoid such an outcome while respecting the democratically established rules for the Common Market. We do not believe that the EU should close the door for the UK to remain in the EU. The EU will therefore need to consider a UK request for extension of the article 50 procedure very seriously.
However, the EU cannot extend the article 50 deadline beyond 31 October without any sign of development in the UK towards a resolution of the current political deadlock between government and parliament. If, however, the UK decided to adopt an agreement with the EU or hold a new referendum or call elections soon after 31 October, the EU would need to extend the deadline beyond 31 October.
Any of these developments would allow the UK to resolve the political deadlock in a democratic and responsible way and the EU would need to act accordingly and extend the deadline.
The EU maintains a universal duty to uphold human dignity and democracy for all its citizens and has therefore the duty to uphold the common good for the citizens of the EU 27 as well as for those in the UK."