Danuta Maria Hübner (PPE). – Mr President, I would like to speak on Brexit. I would like to start by thanking Michel Barnier and his team for the excellent cooperation, and I hope that we will stick to this honest and constructive spirit in the months to come. However, we – as the European Parliament – also expect much closer cooperation with the Council and the Member States today, as the scope of negotiations is moving. Indeed we are awaiting the legal text of the Withdrawal Agreement, but many separation-related issues, which also belong to the Withdrawal Agreement still need to be negotiated. On a number of them, we do not yet know the UK’s position. So we insist that our British partners make those issues a priority in ongoing negotiations. This is my first point.

Secondly, we understand that Michel Barnier’s objective is to conclude in a timely manner the Withdrawal Agreement to which a political declaration on the future will be attached. But, even for this chapter of the process, there is a risk regarding a timely conclusion. We hear from the British side that, in London, the ratification by Parliament can happen only at the last minute. There could also be a crisis in the negotiations. While this is in nobody’s interest, those risks could materialise and that is why we must prepare for the worst possible scenario, which is no deal on 30 March next year. There is a clear need to create legal certainty for this no deal situation. We know that there is work ongoing in the Commission, and we – as the European Parliament – hope for constructive cooperation with the Commission and the Council regarding preparedness, in particular on legislative amendments.

Thirdly, the UK has already been very clear on what it does not want. Much less clear is what it wants. There are ideas leaked here and there, some of them unacceptable and some of them in contradiction with the treaties, so we hope to have the best and widest possible cooperation with the UK in the future, but the internal market must not be torn into pieces to single out the parts that taste good. In this context, we call on all Member States and all European institutions to continue to keep their strong unity throughout the whole process.