EU trio could veto Brexit extension
France among countries to warn PM she must show them how she can pass a deal through Parliament
AT LEAST three EU countries are ready to block any extension to the Brexit talks unless Theresa May can convince them she has a credible plan to break the impasse in the House of Commons.
Any extension to the Article 50 negotiations requires unanimous support from the 27 other EU member states, effectively handing each country a veto at today’s summit in Brussels.
France has been consistently tough on Brexit, and Spain and Belgium are thought to be among countries signalling they will demand concrete assurances from the Prime Minister.
“A situation in which Mrs May is unable to deliver sufficient guarantees on the credibility of her strategy at the European Council would lead to the request being refused and a preference for no deal,” Jean-yves Le Drian, the French foreign minister, said, adding that Mrs May must convince leaders the delay was not an attempt to renegotiate the deal agreed last year.
A source said: “A no-deal Brexit would be damaging and it’s absolutely not what we want but I think we’re ready to go to this because there are only two solutions – a deal is accepted or there is no deal.”
Mrs May wrote to Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, yesterday to request an extension past the March 29 Brexit deadline until June 30.
Mr Tusk will chair the EU summit, where leaders will consider the request. He has previously encouraged the EU27 to look favourably on a longer extension of nine months to two years and said the EU would grant a short extension only if the Commons backed her Brexit deal in a third “meaningful vote” next week. A senior EU diplomat said: “We’ve seen three or four times deals we struck with Prime Minister May were not carried by the House of Commons. We now have a letter and we are not sure if the content has democratic support in the UK.” He said the EU27 would want proof the letter had the support of a Commons majority.
Another said: “It doesn’t make sense to have a very short period because it wouldn’t bring anything new. Honestly, we are in such deep trouble because of London already.”
Mr Tusk said yesterday he would be ready to call an emergency summit if the “meaningful vote” failed, diminishing the risk of a veto.
Jean-claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, said: “Mrs May doesn’t have approval for anything – not in her Cabinet and not in Parliament. As long as we don’t know what Britain could say yes to, we can’t come to any decision.”
In asking for June 30, Mrs May ignores Mr Juncker’s warning that Britain would have to hold elections to the European Parliament with that date penned in for May 23.
Emmanuel Macron, the French president, reportedly believes Brexit is delaying his plans for radical reform of the EU and wants Brexit concluded. But others, including Mr Tusk and the Netherlands, hinted a lengthy extension could be granted to allow for a second referendum or general election.