Juncker dismisses talk of calling off Brexit

BREXIT is inevitable, Jean-claude Juncker has said, as he dismissed claims that Britain will not leave the EU.

The president of the European Commission made the comments after Malta’s prime minister and Ireland’s taoiseach cast doubts over whether the UK would ultimately leave the bloc.

In an interview with the Politico Europe website, Mr Juncker said: “I don’t go as far as the Maltese prime minister, who has not ruled out that it will not come to Brexit.” He added: “My working hypothesis is that it will come to Brexit.”

Mr Juncker warned: “People will become more and more conscious of the density of problems on a daily basis, without always being able to provide a coherent answer to these problems.”

Joseph Muscat, Malta’s prime minister, said last week that he thought the “tide was turning” against Brexit. Malta held the rotating presidency of the EU when Article 50, the legal process taking the UK out of the EU, was triggered.

“For the first time, I’m starting to believe that Brexit will not happen. I am seeing hopeful signs that indicate things will change,” Mr Muscat told Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant.

Leo Varadkar, Ireland’s taoiseach, said this week: “I still hope that it [Brexit] won’t happen. When it comes to my work in Brussels, working with other European prime ministers and presidents, it’s part of my remit to keep the door open.”

Sir Vince Cable has also predicted that Brexit will not, in the end, happen, despite the British Government’s insistence that “Brexit means Brexit”.