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Brexit negotiations will ‘protect interests’ of EU — EU bosses

While the message from the European Union was that free movement of people in Europe would remain, the main item on the agenda was migration from outside the bloc. Juncker is setting the tone of the meeting by calling on the 28-member countries to integrate more fully and said “too often national interests are brought to the fore”.

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He gave the reassurance that the EU isn’t at risk of falling out following the country’s decision to leave the union.

“The facts are plain: The world is getting bigger”.

If Juncker’s proposals are enacted, “it truly will be a quantum leap in European Union defense cooperation”, Terlikowski said.

He also told Members of the European Parliament that the EU needs a military headquarters to work towards a common military force, as the lack of a “permanent structure” resulted in money being wasted on missions.

Speaking in the parliament following Mr Juncker’s speech yesterday, British MEP Syed Kamall, who leads the British Conservatives in the parliament, accused Mr Juncker of producing the “same mantra as before”. “It’s clear that no lessons are going to be learned from Brexit”, Nigel Farage said.

He declared: “Indeed it was the usual recipe for more Europe and in this particular case of course more military Europe”.

With Europe increasingly divided by issues ranging from the migration crisis to terrorism, Juncker’s speech focused on security and the economy to find ways that European Union nations can work together. Slovakia and others have refused to take part. “We can no longer depend on the singular power of individual member states”.

“We have to stop this war according to which all success is national and all failure is European”. Juncker said that the coming year will be vital for the Europe Union as it seeks to remain relevant following the United Kingdom decision to quit the 28-nation bloc.

“People in Europe don’t want this petty envy between the various institutions”, he said at the assembly in Strasbourg, France. He said over-dependence on U.S. defense should be amended with a European force.

Leaders must also compensate for Britain’s departure from the bloc.

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“New online services such as music streaming, video-on-demand platforms and news aggregators have become very popular, while consumers increasingly expect to access cultural content on the move and across borders”, the European Union said.

Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker