deal for brexit and also our constituents jobs and livelihood for the future. debates in this house are all about serious matters, but this in an announcer: after approving the brexit plan, they spoke to reporters. here is a look. today, the european council on the agreement for the withdrawal of the united kingdom of great britain and northern ireland from the european union and the community. the european council and the commission, the european parliament, and the council took the necessary steps to ensure can happen onment , to provide for

an orderly withdrawal. the european council approved the political declarations with the framework for the relationship between the european union and the united kingdom of great britain and northern ireland. respectedan council the determination to have as close as possible a partnership with the united kingdom in the future. passage of today's it contains the essence of our meeting. after a difficult process of ratification as well as further , but regardless of how it will all and, one thing is certain. we will remain friends until the end.

>> the day on which we have set aside the results that have been obtained, but it is a very sad day to see a country like the u.k., in the same would apply to any other country. a country leaving the eu does not give way to the raising of and they haveses, attempted to express their , broadly shared, if not unanimously shared. ago, the a year european commission was given a mandate to conduct negotiations with the united kingdom. we agreed to ask our friend to conduct the detailed

haveiations, which i followed very, very closely, increasingly closely. i met with michelle bernier to express to be used -- views. sometimes we disagreed, but only occasionally. we always did agree because of difficulty was, the challenge so the maintain unity, performance, if we consider despite the pressure, which came quite often from the u.k., pressure upon member states, that we have been able to assure oft we maintained the unity the 27, not only for the duration of the negotiations but on a daily basis, as well, because often we had representatives of member states, ambassadors, and so on, and we also had members of the

steering committee of the european parliament, because you have got to remember that as regards the european parliament, we are not the final say. ultimately, we did have difficulty with our spanish neighbors. this forderestimate the kingdom of spain. i have talked to them on numerous occasions about this. the prime minister as well as his majesty, the king, and i will point out that the agreement that we have attained today is an agreement that is good for spain, so we are with .pain

we very much appreciated and admired the work that was done michel barnier, so i would like to pay special tribute to michel barnier and also to those around him, because there are those on the work, and then you have got those who allow those who appear on the television screens to work, and i would like to pay tribute to m right-hand persons, and as michel was negotiation on behalf of the commission, also a

word of gratitude from my secretary general, to my head of office, and also to all of those around him. very difficult to pronounce, but he is easy to recognize. these, without all of this agreement would not have been possible. i am inviting those to have this deal in the house of commons that this is the best deal possible for britain, the best deal possible for europe. ,his is the only deal possible and i would like to add one sentence concerning the civil , those at the service

of the commission. will benobody of them pushed out. nobody will be ejected. i always admired the professionalism, the loyalty, the commitment of those coming from britain to serve at the promiseon, so i cannot -- nobody will be ejected from the commissions. this deal, not the deal itself, but the brexit is a sad moment for the european union and i want to say that this is the best deal possible. this is the only deal possible. i am convinced that those having

to ratify this deal and the european parliament, they have this in their minds when they are taking that. the difficult decision. a member of the european car parliament,opean everyone admittedly, the same applies to the members of the house. thank you. >> good afternoon to you, and first of all, thank you for inviting me to be on your side for this press conference. fact, reached, in a fair and balanced agreement with the u.k. .t is the best deal possible throughout this extraordinary, complex, difficult negotiations, we worked constantly with the u.k. the u.k. work constructively with us.

the british team. the agreement must now be ratified. it is time for everybody, everybody to take their responsibilities. create agreement will the trust and confidence needed our close andg unprecedented future relationship. remain allies, partners, and friends with the united kingdom. if i may just add a few words in french. i do so to explain about this outcome in a very serious situation. brexit is a very serious situation, but i would like to explain why we have ended up with this outcome. it is an agreement, a treaty,

which amounts to 600 pages. it gives legal certainty to all of those who are affected by uncertainty created by >> it -- , people, citizens, states, and all of this would not be possible, mr. president, without your personal trust and the president of the european parliament. none of this would have been possible without the expertise and skills of our teams. first and foremost, the team that gathered together within as i have always done, negotiating on behalf of the european commission. people already mentioned, in particular. but like many others in the commission, these two ladies have really, really done the european civil service proud and

all of their colleagues, as well, and i am thinking of your team, mr. president, your private office, the ,ecretary-general and his team and as i said in front of the heads of state of government this morning, all of the departments in the commission have contributed. the director general, the martinez,t, martin, the private office, richard and paulina, who i know very well. tos romero i would also like mention. the heads of the two legal counsel's and commission. treaty, as all lawyers know, i am word count, so what saying is that all of this work has only been possible because we have pooled all of this

expertise and experience, all of the skills these persons could muster. worked towards unity, and i very carefully nurtured the unity which heads of state of government wanted to show from the very outset. in sure that unity -- ensure that unity among member states and institutions. i would be very happy to continue the work. thank you. meltzer will be our guest on in-depth. his most recent book, the escape artist, debuted at number one on the new york times bestseller list.

he has written eight other best-selling thrillers. sunday from noon to 3 p.m. eastern on book tv. announcer: it look ahead at the week in washington tonight. p.m., president trump campaigns in mississippi on behalf of a republican senator in a runoff election tomorrow. on mondays, when congress is in session, we like to take a look at the week ahead. helping me uncover both ends of pennsylvania avenue, we are joined by a white house reporter for npr. and sahil kapur or. let's begin with leadership.