MEPs sing Auld Lang Syne in tribute to departing UK
In a moving tribute to Britain and its departing MEPs the European Parliament stood up and linked arms for a rousing three verses of Auld Lang Syne after a vote which means the UK will leave the EU in two days' time.
The singing was followed by applause and hugs as MEPs in Brussels (though not including the Brexit Party MEPs who left earlier after waving Union Flags) expressed their emotion after the vote on the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement which was passed by 621 against 49, with 13 abstentions.
It means that tomorrow the European Council will give a final rubber stamp to the agreement and the UK will leave the EU with the deal at midnight on Friday, French time.
The idea of singing Auld Lang Syne – sung at New Year’s Eve across the UK and with words that speak of remembering old friends – came from German MEP Terry Reintke who has set up a UK Friendship Group in the European Parliament.
Ms Reintke told us about her plans for the February edition of The Connexion newspaper which is out this week in the printed version and was published online this afternoon for subscribers at this link.
“When people say goodbye, they need rituals and space to feel their emotions. In politics, we are often very serious," she told us last week.
At the time the plan was for the friendship group (currently about 75-strong) to stand and sing – if they could find enough strong singers. However today almost every MEP appeared to join in, as you can see in the video at this link (the vote and the singing are at 18:35; there is also a clip of the singing on YouTube here).
The emotional moment followed many speeches in which MEPs expressed sadness, thanks for the UK's many contributions to the European project over 47 years, and wishes for a good future relationship. Many hoped it may be au revoir rather than goodbye.
We will be following the debates up further in coming days.
