Maltese MEP Alfred Sant told the European Parliament in Strasbourg that during the last six months, the incoherences at the heart of the EU's policymaking have become sharper.

Dr Sant, commenting during a debate marking the closing of the Dutch Presidency of the EU, said that following the terrorist attacks on Brussels, the Dutch referendum on the Ukraine agreement and now Brexit, the EU construct is being increasingly seen as ineffective.

"We are told that the only viable way forward is by promoting "more" Europe. That negotiating Brexit will mean first negotiating a British exit, then negotiating what arrangement to apply for relations with the UK."

The Maltese MEP said, "managing the migration crisis involves a deal with Turkey that amounts to a hidden strategy of "refoulement" plus the creation of an external borders agency. That to beat terrorism the cooperation between national security services needs to be strongly reinforced. All this is highlighting divergences within the Union between its heterogeneous parts, already accelerated by the neo-liberal austerity that is the hallmark of what goes for economic policy."

Dr Sant commented that it is puzzling that so many are failing to recognise how in order to stabilise the situation the European Union needs consolidation. "This should take full account of national perspectives and interests, with as first priority, the need to counter the divergences that have developed between north and south, and east and centre of the Union," he concluded.

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