Bid to avert Brexit ‘fiasco’
Concerns over Britain crashing out on March 29 without a legal agreement
THE EU would make no new offer on Brexit and those who promoted Britain’s exit without any understanding of how to deliver it deserved a special place in hell, European Council president Donald Tusk said yesterday.
Tusk said he had abandoned hope that Brexit might be stopped and said his priority was now to avert a “fiasco” in 50 days if Britain crashed out without a deal.
Assuring Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar of the solidarity of all other member states as Dublin insists Britain give legal guarantees to avoid disrupting the Northern Ireland border, Tusk told a joint news conference in Brussels that he saw no force capable of blocking a “pro-Brexit” government and opposition.
As British Prime Minister Theresa May prepares to meet EU officials in Brussels today with a mandate from MPs to rework the withdrawal treaty she agreed with the union in November, Tusk and Varadkar echoed other European leaders in ruling out change to the text, including the Irish “backstop” – the protocol which parliament roundly rejected last month.
“I hope that tomorrow we will hear from Prime Minister May a realistic suggestion on how to end the impasse,” Tusk said. “I strongly believe that a common solution is possible.”
He said, however, that the EU must step up planning for Britain leaving on March 29 without having a legal agreement: “A sense of responsibility also tells us to prepare for a possible fiasco.
“I’ve been wondering what that special place in hell looks like for those who promoted Brexit without even a sketch of a plan how to carry it out safely.”
A former Polish prime minister, Tusk has been a notable EU voice in encouraging Britons to try to reverse the result of the 2016 Brexit referendum.
“I know that still a very great number of people… wish for a reversal of this decision. I have always been with you, with all my heart. But the facts are unmistakable.”
He said the “pro-Brexit stance” of May and opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn meant that “today there is no political force and no effective leadership for remain”.
Brexiteer Nigel Farage responded: “After Brexit we will be free of unelected, arrogant bullies like you – sounds like heaven to me.”
Varadkar said the Brexit deal, rejected by the UK parliament, was “the best possible”. At meetings in Belfast, May tried to tackle the biggest obstacle to getting a deal ratified by the British parliament – an insurance policy covering the possible future arrangements for the border between EU-member Ireland and the British province of Northern Ireland.
May said she would seek an alternative arrangement which avoided the need for a hard border or legally binding changes to the border backstop to introduce a time limit or create an exit mechanism.
Brexit has snagged on the 500km frontier because there is disagreement on how to monitor trade without physical checks on the border, which was marked by military checkpoints before a 1998 peace deal ended three decades of sectarian conflict.
As a way to prevent a hard border, Brussels and London agreed a so-called backstop – basically a promise that unless the sides come up with a better idea then the UK would remain bound by EU market and customs rules so that goods would not have to be checked.
But the Northern Irish party which props up May’s government says it could endanger the province’s place in the UK, while Brexit supporters in May’s Conservative Party worry it would lock the country into EU rules for the long term. | Reuters