I have another explanation [of Brexit]: In its 43 years of EU membership, Britain has never been able to decide whether it wants to fully or only partially belong to the EU.

I am a champion of trans-Atlantic relations and I do not believe there is any other option available to us than working closely together with America - including Canada. There is no other alliance option, but the same is true for the U.S.

Between now and then, after 43 years of European marriage, the whole body of legislation will therefore have to be disentangled. That entails a whole range of specific and very complex questions: what will be the future legal status of the millions of EU citizens in the UK and the millions of Britons on the continent?

Article 50 governs the exit from the European Union and here there can also be no renegotiation.

When the going gets tough, you have to lie.

I said in my inaugural address that I am not the Council's secretary, nor am I the Parliament's lackey. That can sometimes lead to conflicts, which are defused through dialogue.

Europe is a democracy and differences of opinion are part of it.