国际英语资讯:European Parliament welcomes Brexit negotiation unity, calls for EU reform_时事

国际英语资讯:European Parliament welcomes Brexit negotiation unity, calls for EU reform

Despite the strong welcome of European unity, however, many MEPs insisted that Europeans still expected change, and that the divorce proceedings should be seen as an opportunity for reform.

"We are now seeing a fresh impetus that the winds of change are blowing through Europe and we need to capitalize on this, we need to make the absolute most of this," Manfred Weber appealed to the Strasbourg hemicycle.

Raffaele Fitto (Italy), speaking on behalf of the European Conservatives and Reformer's group, thought the negotiations "should be based on creating a relationship with the UK which allows us to review the way that the EU works and to understand why the British people thought they would be better off outside the EU than in it."

"It's about taking this opportunity of these negotiations between London and Brussels to actually reflect about ourselves, to discuss about ourselves, and about where the EU is going," he stressed.

Guy Verhofstadt (Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, Belgium), lead Brexit negotiator for the European Parliament, thought it would be a mistake to concentrate all energy on Brexit, at the expense of reform.

"It's really time to use this Brexit negotiation for a new vision and for a new future for Europe, a future that our young people want," Verhofstadt declared. "Look to what is happening throughout Europe, in more than 100 cities, over all in Europe in the squares, young people are coming together asking for more and a democratic European Union."