Ms Naomi Long:

I thank the Chairman and I thank the committee for the invitation to speak. I apologise for running late. Reference was made to the events unfolding in Westminster today and before I arrived, I was dealing with some of those issues in the media.

I shall briefly outline the committees I am on and I shall also refer to the appointment and election of Ursula von der Leyen. I want to focus on Brexit because that is my central focus in the EU Parliament. Brexit is at a critical juncture and it is important that I retain my focus on that above everything else.

I am a member of the EU Parliament's committee on regional development, REGI, and of the FEMM committee, both of which are important in terms of equality and rights. Those committees will also have an impact on funding in a post-Brexit scenario, which I take a particularly keen interest in. I am also a sub on the committee on agriculture and rural development, AGRI. Some of the joint committee members will have rehearsed the challenges of Mercosur, especially for beef farming, and for agriculture more generally. I am keeping an eye on this for farming and environmental reasons. I have quoted the figures I got from the Ulster Farmers' Union, UFU, previously. A kilogramme of beef produced in Ireland has a carbon footprint of about 16 kg. A kilogramme of beef produced in South America has a carbon footprint 80 kg. When it comes to reducing carbon uptake, this is a significant difference. We need to get this across. There is no point having high ideals on the environment if our trade relations do not reinforce those high ideals.

Reference was made to Ursula von der Leyen. I have no issue with promoting EU values such as openness, equality, freedom and democracy. These are all very valuable values that we should act to protect and promote. I have a problem, however, when people use phrases such as "our European way of life" because I believe there is a tendency for phrases like that to be used as a dog whistle to those on the far right, those who are Islamophobic and those who are xenophobic. The President-elect, Ms von der Leyen, has coupled this with the work on migration and this is an unfortunate juxtaposition because I believe it says that it is in some way related to migration. I do not believe that immigration is a threat to our way of life. Some of the threats to democracy at the moment are coming from within, not from without. We need to be conscious of othering people who come to the EU from all around the globe and who make a valuable contribution. I will wait, with a degree of scepticism, to see how that pans out.

With regard to what is happening in EU Parliament on Brexit, which is of acute concern to those of us in Northern Ireland in the Border counties and beyond, I detect that patience is starting to run out with the process. I detect this particularly among some of our French colleagues. I believe there is something of a power play going on at the moment. The exit of the UK would leave France in a much stronger position within the EU, and I suspect this has contributed somewhat to their eagerness to see this resolved in sharpish fashion. We also need to be careful because it plays into the general exhaustion of the public, the political class and the media with Brexit. People are sick of Brexit and I hold my hands up because I am also sick of Brexit. There is a tendency of people to get into the mindset of, "Just let us get this done." One of the key messages I am trying to get out with colleagues is that this will not go away once a decision has been made. Over the next ten to 15 years, this will continue to be on the political agenda, affect decision-making going forward and influence policy. Right now, it is more important to get this right than to get it done. It is much more important that we take the time to make decisions correctly and not rush towards a conclusion simply because of people being fed up.

It is almost inevitable that the UK Government will not survive the current crisis without a general election. There is also the possibility of a second referendum, momentum for which is growing in the EU Parliament. Even if a deal is possible in the short timeframe available, there will need to be an extension for it to be ratified in the UK Parliament and in the EU 27 member states. Some form of extension is almost inevitable. I am reasonably confident that this extension will be granted if asked for, and certainly the resolution that was passed last week in the EU Parliament indicates support for that. I have a concern that there is a degree of conditionality attached to this. While I have sympathy with those who want a clear answer as to what the UK intends to use the extension for, I am concerned that the conditionality could give Boris Johnson wriggle room to say that he has complied with the letter of the law in asking for an extension but that he will not accept the extension given because of the attached conditions. We need to tread cautiously. There is work for the Irish Government and others to make sure that any extension is not framed in a way that allows Boris Johnson to wriggle out of his responsibilities. As we saw with the ruling of the Supreme Court today, he is more than happy to wriggle out of responsibilities at every single level. On the question of his future and whether he should resign, I have no doubt whatsoever that he should. He is unfit for office and this has been reinforced by today's judgment, not discovered by it.

He ought to go but will he resign? I do not believe he will. He may use today's ruling to try, through some machinations, to get a vote of no confidence moved in the British Parliament against him that would put the Labour Party in the invidious position of having to vote confidence in the British Prime Minister to keep the British Parliament standing and avoid the snap general election that he has sought all along. That could cause real problems. Trying to predict what might happen from here is incredibly difficult but I am pretty certain that whatever is Mr. Johnson's next move, it will be to try to sustain himself in Downing Street. That is his only objective.

It has been mentioned by others that we will have an event tomorrow focusing specifically on Northern Ireland and the issues around the Good Friday Agreement and people's quality of life. Much has been said about the economic impact of Brexit and that is understandable because it will have a massive impact across the island. There are also psychological, political and social ramifications of Brexit that we must consider. We must examine how people's lives will be impacted by changes at the Border. Tomorrow we will start by looking at the Good Friday Agreement and we have a former Taoiseach, Mr. John Bruton, as keynote speaker. We will also have contributions from Mr. Tony Blair and Mr. Bertie Ahern. All the MEPs from Ireland, North and South, and the UK who are pro-remain have been party to the organisation of the event. I have also invited Ms Diane Dodds, MEP, from Northern Ireland. I invited a member from the Brexit Party because it is important that such people hear first hand the realities of the Border and do not simply sweep away or dismiss the concerns that people are expressing.

The second panel will involve people from Northern Ireland. They started to arrive today. It is a broad mix, with people from Border Communities Against Brexit and the Climate Change Coalition in Northern Ireland, as well as a community worker from Derry and some academics. It is a broad panel and the idea is to try to give a lived experience that brings colour to the concerns relating to the Border. MEPs who observe the proceedings should feel they can understand better than when they arrived the complexities of the position.

There are different views among all the parties and I have listened to Mr. Carthy and Ms Anderson understandably arguing that the solution to this is a united Ireland. It is the solution to everything when one speaks to them and I understand where they are coming from on that. There are complexities in other people's positioning. Some of the UK MEPs want a people's vote and others want a general election, etc. We are trying to get to a point where everyone agrees that a hard Brexit would be incredibly damaging, as all the Northern Irish parties do, on the surface at least. That is a common position taken North and South and it is a position that I want to see other UK MEPs bring on board, as well as other MEPs from across the European Union. We need to reinforce at this point just how vulnerable Northern Ireland and the Good Friday Agreement would be to any hard border.

It is also important to say that I hope we will be able to get some kind of joint statement from all the MEPs as a result of this, which would be quite a powerful counter to what we have seen of late where much of the diplomacy between Dublin and London feels like megaphone diplomacy. I do not necessarily hold Dublin responsible for it and the way the UK Government has responded to the Brexit issue has made it incredibly difficult. I was a member of the Assembly but it has been suspended for three years and there is no serious prospect of it being restored because of what is going on with Brexit and the inability of the UK Government to shake loose of the Democratic Unionist Party. I am concerned that the Good Friday Agreement should be front and centre of the discussions we have on Brexit and the restoration of the Agreement in all its parts. I agree with Ms Anderson as all its parts should include having a working Assembly and delivering for people on the ground through it, as well as all the other structures North and South, east and west, as envisaged. Until we get to that point, we have much work to do.