As Britain flounders, gloating EU leaders await ‘no-brexit scenario’
EU leaders said they were hoping for a “no-brexit scenario” yesterday as they suggested that Britain could call off the entire process if it did not like the terms of the deal.
Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, said reversing the referendum result would be the EU’S preferred outcome of the negotiations.
“The EU is prepared for a final deal with the United Kingdom in November. We are also prepared for a no-deal scenario but of course we are best prepared for a no-brexit scenario,” said Mr Tusk at a press conference in Brussels.
He added: “Since the very beginning we have had no doubt that Brexit is a lose-lose situation and that our negotiations are about damage control.”
Guy Verhofstadt, the European parliament coordinator, added that he would like to see the UK eventually “rejoin the European family”, though he expressed doubts that this could be achieved by a second referendum. Other officials did their best to appear magnanimous at the moment of their Brexit victory, having succeeded in preventing the return of a hard Irish border and keeping Britain shackled to Brussels red tape for years to come.
“I am not smug or self-satisfied,” Mr Barnier had said on Wednesday as he declared that “decisive progress” in the Brexit negotiations had been achieved.
“Mrs May said this is the best possible agreement in the circumstances”, Mr Barnier said, unaware at the time that a storm of resignations was already brewing in London.
The reaction among the EU27 was broadly positive, with one Irish newspaper claiming “victory” for Dublin at the expense of chaos in London.
Irish ministers were warned after Mrs May’s announcement that they should not say anything that could lead to them being accused of “gloating” over the controversial backstop clause.
Leo Varadkar is said to have been concerned that any provocative language from TDS [MPS] and senators may unravel the deal at the last minute.
“There is a strong body of opinion now in Fine Gael [Varadkar’s party] that this is as good as it gets,” one minister told the Irish Times.
Bruno Le Maire, France’s finance minister, welcomed the deal as “good news for the French economy,” though sources in Paris said they were disappointed that the agreement did not cover fishing rights.
Berlingske, a Danish paper, in a reference to the UK’S alleged bid to “cherry-pick” EU benefits, said the Britons were “beginning to understand the EU is not a buffet.”
“The EU is laughing at us,” Steven Woolfe, a British MEP, claimed, adding that he attended a reception in Brussels this week that was full of “commiserations, laughter and fake apologies”.
EU27 diplomats in Brussels signalled they were preparing to press home their advantage and demand further concessions in finance and fishing sectors as the price for their support. Diplomats, secure in the belief that the British were beaten, also warned they would ask for further concessions before they rubber stamped the deal.
Not content with stripping British financial services of access to the single market, which could lead to major firms moving to the EU, they demanded stronger guarantees on open access to British fishing waters.
Behind the scenes, EU officials were clear that the deal was a very poor second to membership of the bloc and that trade would most definitely not be frictionless, except in Northern Ireland.
The “bare bones” customs deal was described as inferior to the EU’S customs union with Turkey.
A top EU official warned renegotiating the deal could disrupt Brexit.
“On both sides we have exhausted our margin of manoeuvre under our respective mandates,” the official said. “We are happy to stand over this agreement and we think this is the best we can do collectively with the restraints on both sides.”