Martin Schulz Quotes

the only vehicle through which we can get a clear-cut and unequivocal decision of the people.]

A referendum is almost always a device by which governments get the voters to endorse what they wanted to do all along.

I am not liked as a president by the politicians in office, in the press, or in Congress. But I am content to abide the judgment–the sober second thought–of the people

I’m not in favor of referendums, and I will never put one before the British people.

Referendums are designed to get round parliamentary government, and people only demand referendums when they think they can't get a majority in parliament. Mussolini was the most brilliant practitioner of referendums.

As a strong believer that Brexit is a very damaging mistake that becomes more obvious every day, I see sound democratic reasons for asking the electorate to confirm what it wants to do.

I like the idea of a Citizen's Assembly that has been used in Ireland, providing a forum in which to discuss the nuances of an issue before deciding if and how it should be put to the people.

Because the referendum in 2016 wasn't just about our relationship with the E.U., it was about millions of people and their relationship with politics as a whole.

If there are further steps to European integration, the people should have their say at a general election or in a referendum.

I desperately want Scotland to be an independent country. I cannot, though, sit here and tell you definitively that it will happen, and that it will happen on this timescale, because I have to respect the opinion of the people of Scotland.

I'm going to devote myself full time to securing and then winning a referendum on leaving the E.U.

Remember, I'm the guy who didn't want the referendum - I wouldn't have had it if I'd been prime minister. But you have to respect how people voted because this was partly about political alienation, so if the response to political alienation is to ignore it, that's a recipe for more political alienation.

The U.K. voted for Brexit and a lot of weak-willed, lily-livered people will say 'yeah but the people did not know what they were voting for, they had no idea of what this was going to entail.' Those are the people who are saying 'lets get a second referendum, let's make the people aware this time that there is, in fact, a lot more to this.'

Brexit is a self-inflicted wound; the people of this country hold the knife, and they don't have to use it if they don't want to. The people, not the hardline Brexiteers, are in charge.

We cannot say no to what has already been approved by the citizens.

I have always said that I believe in the people's right to vote on an issue.

In 2016 the public voted by a majority to leave the E.U. As I can see from my mailbag, some are angry at being deprived of their hopes and expectations. They demand action to implement their vote, just as others require we should think again and abandon the project entirely.

I actually don't believe in governance by referendum. I believe that we have a democracy, that we elect people to make decisions.

We will not be thanked by anyone for dragging the country out of the E.U. on a deal for which the public have shown no enthusiasm. For MPs that would be an abdication of responsibility.

We had the biggest democratic exercise, and the majority voted to leave the E.U. It is our duty to make sure we do that.

Brexit has energised millions of people, young and old, to take part in our democracy and that's a great thing.

I was strongly against Brexit. I speechified against Brexit.

I could see the point of Brexit if it meant returning power to the people.

Given that the reality of Brexit has turned out to be so far from what was once promised, the democratic thing to do is to give the public the final say.

On principle, I always support the opinion of a population who express themselves through a referendum.