TUSK HINTS UK CAN CANCEL BREXIT
EUROPEAN Union chief Donald Tusk appeared to suggest Britain should cancel Brexit last night as Brussels said it was unwilling to improve the deal.
Within minutes of the Commons defeat, European Council president Mr Tusk urged British politicians to have ‘the courage’ to keep the country inside the EU.
His provocative intervention came as Jean-Claude Juncker, who is president of the European Commission, dashed hopes of any fresh concessions on the Withdrawal Agreement.
Although Mr Juncker last night cleared his diary and raced back to Brussels to prepare for Brexit crisis talks, he warned that what was on the table was ‘the best possible deal’.
And EU sources ruled out an emergency summit or the reopening of the Withdrawal Agreement. Mr Juncker said last night’s rejection of the deal by MPs meant the chances of a ‘disorderly’ exit had increased, adding: ‘Time is almost up.’
He added: ‘I take note with regret of the outcome of the vote in the House of Commons... the Withdrawal Agreement is a fair compromise and the best possible deal. It reduces the damage caused by Brexit for citizens and businesses across Europe. It is the only way to ensure an orderly withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union. The European Commission, and notably our chief negotiator Michel Barnier, has invested enormous time and effort to negotiate the Withdrawal Agreement.
‘We have shown creativity and flexibility throughout. The risk of a disorderly withdrawal of the United Kingdom has increased with this evening’s vote. While we do not want this to happen, the European Commission will continue its contingency work to help ensure the EU is fully prepared. I urge the UK to clarify its intentions as soon as possible.’
Mr Tusk tweeted: ‘If a deal is impossible, and no-one wants no deal, then who will finally have the courage to say what the only positive solution is?’
Mr Barnier will this morning set out the EU’s formal response to the Commons vote in the European Parliament. As it became clear last night that the Brexit deal would be rejected by MPs, Mr Juncker cancelled a planned meeting today with the Spanish prime minister in Strasbourg and returned to Brussels to deal with the ‘emergency’.
Downing Street said there were ‘no plans’ for Prime Minister Theresa May to travel back to Brussels immediately, but she is expected to return for crisis talks within days. Mario Centeno, chairman of the eurozone and Portuguese finance minister, said everything should be done to avoid a no-deal Brexit amid gloomy economic forecasts for countries who are part of the single currency. He said: ‘We can adjust our trajectory. We can open all the dossiers. We need to take informed decisions with total calm and avoid a no-deal
exit. Practically anything is better than a no-deal exit.’
Ahead of the vote, Mr Juncker and Mr Tusk on Monday sent a letter to Mrs May offering reassurances that the backstop, which is designed to stop a hard border in Northern Ireland, would be temporary. But it stopped short of a legally binding end date, which has been demanded by many, including the Democratic Unionist Party.
Germany’s foreign minister Heiko Maas yesterday suggested there could be ‘further talks’, but a spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel denied claims that she had already begun discussing concessions with Mrs May.
France is one of the countries leading resistance to major changes to the Withdrawal Agreement. Nathalie Loiseau, the French Europe minister, said: ‘We have given everything we can give.’ Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz, who has held the rotating presidency of the EU for the past six months, urged fellow leaders to ‘continue to sing from the same hymn sheet’.
Speaking in the European Parliament, Mr Kurz said: ‘The European Union, I believe, in negotiations with the United Kingdom, has nothing to reproach itself for because we negotiated a very balanced exit agreement and we also have a political declaration on the future of our relationship. Now, even if things don’t go our way this evening in the vote in the British Parliament and even if the next few weeks and months are rocky, it is important that we continue to sing from the same hymn sheet.’
Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s Brexit co-ordinator, last night said he does not want the ‘mess’ of British politics to be ‘transferred and imported into European politics’. He said the two sides need to ‘try to find a solution before the European elections [in May]’.
One option being prepared for in Brussels is a possible request for an extension of the two-year Article 50 process, which would delay Brexit beyond the current date of March 29.
Esteban González Pons, vicechairman of the European People’s Party, yesterday told MEPs it was ‘not against the extension of Article 50’. The EPP is the largest group in the European Parliament and counts Mr Juncker, Mr Tusk, Mr Barnier and Mrs Merkel among its members.