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For example, UKIP’s Nigel Farage speaking during the debate in Parliament on 14 February 2017Tuesday, underlined that “the messages” sent out by Brexit and the election of Donald Trump had "completely bypassed" many MEPs.

He was taking part in a debate in Strasbourg on three separate reports on the EU’s future drafted by EPP (by MEP Elmar Brok), socialists (by Mercedes Bresso and ALDE's Guy Verhofstadt) and a special report on the Eurozone's future, prepared by the French Socialist Pervenche Berès and German EPP’s MEP Reimer Böge.

Changes needed

Debates went on around possible changes in the EU’s institutional set up and better future EU’s functioning. The reports partly called for "more Europe" in order to address the threat posed by growing populist parties’ influence across Europe.

Farage warned MEPs at the plenary, that the EU in its present form has had no future, while Mr. Verhofstadt called for more Europe while the general mood seemed to be “less Europe”.

With unpredicted and vulnerable elections’ results in France and Germany in 2017, the EU could face even bigger shocks. The ECR group deputy Ashley Fox argued that the reports would offer a new approach to the ills facing the EU. He inclined to say that the British didn't vote for more Europe, but less; that means a United States of Europe.

Further criticism of the three reports came from Greens/EFA group MEP Pascal Durand, who labeled the EU a "political dwarf" and said the reports "offer no solutions" to the bloc's problems.

Some called the reports as “merely technical and institutional”, e.g. by GUE/NGL group member Barbara Spinelli. Others agreed that the Brexit showed that the EU “must change”, but urged member states to "rally round" the Eurozone as “bedrock for the EU-27”.

Reference to: https://www.theparliamentmagazine.eu/articles/news/strasbourg-plenary-eu-parliament-discusses-future-eu

Other MEPs were more vocal in their support for the EU, including Greens/EFA co-chair Philippe Lamberts, who said the reports offered "the way forward" for the EU. 

German Socialist Jo Leinen acknowledged that the EU had been guilty of "slow decision making", but blamed its problems on the "egotism" of the member states.

European Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans welcomed the "refreshing" reports and said that the EU executive institution would shortly table its own white paper on Europe's future. He told MEPs, that Brexit put both the EU and UK in a new situation; however, the Commission couldn’t very much and it's mainly up to member states to deliver.