ITALY MEP Marco Zanni launched a scathing attack against the European Union over the institutions' treatment of the UK during the Brexit talks, branding Brussels' attitude as deplorable.
Mr Zanni insisted the British decision to quit is a "demonstration of the errors of the past" the EU committed through the years as he demanded Brussels respect British voters.
Addressing colleagues in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, the Italian MEP said: "We have to look at the deep-rooted roots that have led to decisions such as this, why citizens want to leave the European Union.
"People have said enough, they want to draw a line under the project which you think it’s infallible and perfect but they clearly see as absolutely ridden with defects.
"I’m concerned more about the economic institutional crisis in the European Union than I am about what’s going on in Britain.
Brexit news: Zanni said the behaviour of the EU had been "deplorable" (Image: EPTV)
"There is an institutional crisis across all the institutions here and within this European Parliament. The political groups are divided, absolutely fractured and have only just managed to cobble together a majority to elect a Commission President-elect with no policies yet."
Mr Zanni continued: "This is not the way we should treat a country which has chosen to take its own path, taken a decision through the ballot box to do this.
"It is not worthy of the supposedly democratic principles of this institution which will have no future any more than the European Union.
"The resolution today considers that Brexit is a deplorable proposition.
"When you see an exercise in democracy, which is what a referendum is, you cannot describe it as deplorable and you can’t start issuing lectures on democracy to the British Parliament. This is deplorable.
"This is something of the greatest concern to myself and my colleagues. This applies not only to the context of Brexit but more widely the whole history of the European Union in recent times."
Brexit news: Zanni warned of an "institutional crisis" raging across the EU (Image: EPTV)
He added: "There are several examples of the same attitudes throughout the European Union where the decisions taken by the citizens have been rejected by the institutions.
"We’ve seen samples in the Netherlands, in France, in Greece. You may abhor the prorogation of the British Parliament but this is done within the British law.
"I’m concerned that freely-taken decisions taken by people can never be accepted, they have somehow to be reinterpreted in an unorthodox way so that they can ultimately be changed."
The scathing attack came after both European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier warned the chances of no deal have increased allegedly due to Britain's failure to put forward alternatives to the Irish backstop.
The Commission president said: "Michel Barnier and myself lunched with Prime Minister Johnson on Monday, you’ll be hardly surprised to learn that the Prime Minister assured us that he continues he wants an agreement but whatever happens he, the UK, will leave the EU on October 31 – with or without an agreement.
"That is why the risk of a no-deal is palpable."
Mr Barnier claimed uncertainty over the peace status on the island of Ireland posed a risk to the union and the UK.
The Frenchman said: "It is in Ireland that Brexit creates the most problem. It is in Ireland that harbours the most risk. It is the only place where the United Kingdom has a land border with the EU.
"There is a specific policy which, as you know, is linked to an often-tragic history. Provisions are enshrined in the Good Friday Agreement which the UK and Ireland are signatories to and have committed to upholding.
"The position from the side of the European Union has never been an ideological one it is always been a pragmatic one."
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1179329/Brexit-news-Italy-Marco-Zanni-UK-EU-withdrawal-European-Union-Boris-Johnson-latest