'You won't stop us!' Schulz says Britain CAN'T block EU army and calls for MORE Europe
EUROPEAN Parliament chief Martin Schulz has said the Brexit vote will lead to even closer integration between member states and Brussels in a defiant speech in London today.
Speaking after meeting Theresa May, Sadiq Khan and Jeremy Corbyn for the first time, the Brussels bigwig said French and German proposals for an EU army were a "clear sign of things to come".
He boasted that without the threat of a British veto Brussels would be free to forge even closer links with the remaining 27 member states.
In a lengthy speech after two days of talks in the UK - his first visit since the June 23 Brexit vote - the German politician said the remaining 27 countries could not afford to press the "pause button" on EU activity.
The EU was losing a "key" partner in the UK but Brexit also offered new opportunities to strengthen the Brussels bloc, he said.
Mr Schulz told students in a lecture at the London School of Economics: "Such a separation could give the necessary impulse for a closer integration for the remaining member states.
"The Franco-German proposal from this summer on security and the proposal from September on defence are a clear sign of things to come.
"There are many ways in which the UK could engage and contribute to such a new, more coordinated EU of 27, without standing in the way of such integration."
He added: "What we cant afford to do now is to press the pause button on EU activity when it is in the midst of a migration and refugee crisis, when it must OK its financial framework for the coming years, when it must complete the economic and monetary union."
Mr Schulz has repeatedly called for the UK to trigger Article 50 - the mechanism which begins two years of negotiations before the UK must leave the EU - saying it is in the best interests of both Brussels and Britain.
The unelected EU parliament chief is pressing for the UK to hurry up and get on with Brexit as he is keen for negotiations to finish before European elections in mid 2019, meaning Article 50 would have to be triggered by May next year.
In his speech in London, he also called on the UK to stop threatening to block EU plans.
Britain is widely viewed as the major stumbling block for the EU in pressing ahead with plans for closer integration on defence and security, including transitional armies and border forces to tackle the migrant crisis.
He said: "I'm not sure how seriously the threats of UK veto in this area that have been recently made.
"I would make a plea to put an end to this systematic talk of blocking which is counterproductive and anyway not possible in this case."