Speech by the President During the Plenary Session of 13 July 2016

Speech by the president during the plenary session of 13 July 2016

Of course, the biggest news is the result of the referendum in the United Kingdom. You may have read the declaration that I published the day after the referendum, i.e. on the morning of 24 June. I expressed my sadness in the declaration. And I did not conceal – I have never concealed – my active and determined support for our British colleagues who were fighting to keep the UK in the EU.

Why did I do this? Human relationships, of course: my deep affection for British trade unionists and for all our British colleagues more generally. But that was not the only reason. I took a stand to keep the UK in the EU because I believe – and I think many people share this view – that the whole of the UK should be part of the European Union: first of all, the British people were at the forefront of the struggle against fascism and Nazism, and the UK is an integral part of Europe, both geographically and culturally. So I believe that it should be in the European Union.

The majority of British citizens who voted in the referendum decided to leave the EU. This is a sad result, but it must be respected. Analysts will give you a whole host of reasons, each according to their own point of view. I am not going to get into this analysis. I would just like to share a few personal thoughts with you on the reasons for this result.

First, I do not believe that there was a real debate on the European Union and what the EU has done for all countries, including the United Kingdom. The debate was entirely different, along the lines of "Let's leave the EU so we can get rid of the immigrants" and other racist and xenophobic slogans. To my knowledge, at least, there was no debate during this campaign on the basis of "This is what is not working and should be fixed in the EU".

In my opinion, there were far too many lies. For example, I read an article written by a "Eurosceptic" who said that "It's the European Union's fault if we don't have good social policies in the UK". This is just too much! Too much! All British governments, or almost all of them (an exception being when Tony Blair agreed to accept the social protocol annexed to the Maastricht Treaty) have held back any moves towards social progress at EU level – that is, when they have not blocked them entirely. So claiming that it is "the EU's fault" really is a huge lie.

And then, you know, if you go on and on for decades (for which all political leaders bear responsibility, in my view), constantly telling citizens that everything that is wrong within a country is the "EU's fault", striving tirelessly to make the European Union liable for all failures at national level – then when you ask the public whether it would be a good idea to stay in the EU, you get a lot of naive answers from people who think that the solution is to say "no". And that is what happened.

Moreover – and this is serious – a certain number of British politicians have made "Brexit" their profession. I was going to say that this was their bread and butter, but it was more like taking the cake. And it is disgraceful. Actually, I have seldom seen so much political cowardice. All the leaders who were leading the charge for "Brexit" resigned, one after the other. Meanwhile, seeing that he had lost the referendum – as he was in favour of staying in the EU – the British prime minister Cameron had very nobly also resigned.

Colleagues, the European project was and still is a project for peace, security, prosperity and stability and is unique in the history of the world. It is a noble, intelligent and generous project, but it can only flourish if it has the enthusiastic support of a large majority of Europeans. From now on, it is vitally important that the leaders of the twenty-seven Member States provide tangible evidence of solidarity and effective, resolute togetherness; and the EU must show its citizens that its number one priority, in this globalised world, is their future, their work, their jobs, their studies, their prosperity, their well-being, their safety and their daily lives.

The European Commission must propose, and decision-makers (i.e. the Council and the European Parliament) must adopt – urgently and unhesitatingly – any measure with a significant and visible social and economic impact that stimulates our businesses, creates jobs, protects our young people, expresses solidarity between countries, solves the problems posed by the influx of refugees and by migration, removes inequalities between regions and eradicates poverty and social distress; in other words, any measure that will cause citizens to regain confidence in the Union, which must be seen as a strong reason to hope for the future.

This is the best way to combat nationalism, racism, xenophobia and all those who preach hatred between peoples as a way to solve our problems. I know that we will fight side by side with the overwhelming majority of British citizens, whether they live inside or outside the United Kingdom. We will fight together and I am sure that even if at some point the United Kingdom officially leaves the EU, we shall be reunited. And in the meantime we will continue to fight together with our British colleagues.

Thank you – I now open the debate on this issue.

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