Front on Brexit
Loss of confidence in May as she battles for political survival
EU LEADERS took control of the Brexit process from British Prime Minister Theresa May, saying yesterday they believed the risks were too great and that action was needed to protect the smooth running of the world’s biggest trading bloc.
May’s mantra since the Brexit referendum in 2016 has always been about “taking back control” of UK affairs from the EU. But leaders from the bloc showed at a Brussels summit that they too have a big say in how Brexit ends up, as the political tussle resumes in the British parliament over how to proceed.
In a move that underlined their loss of confidence in May as she battles for her political survival, the leaders set two deadlines for Britain to leave or to take an entirely new path in considering its EU future.
At marathon late night talks in Brussels, they rejected May’s request to extend the Brexit deadline from March 29 – just a week away – to June 30.
Instead, the leaders agreed to extend the date to May 22, on the eve of EU elections, if she can persuade the British parliament to endorse the Brexit deal.
Failing that, May would have until April 12 to choose a new path.
“British politicians are incapable of implementing what the people asked them,” French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters.
“This crisis is British. In no way must we (the EU) become stuck in this situation, so that is why we have given two deadlines. We are organised,” said Macron.
The EU move is intended to ensure Britain doesn’t take part in the May 23-26 elections if it is leaving.
Candidates for the Europe-wide polls, being held amid deep concern that mainstream parties could lose seats to anti-immigrant groups and populists, must be enrolled by April 12.
“The UK government will still have the choice of a deal, no-deal, a long extension or revoking Article 50. April 12 is a key date,” said EU Council president Donald Tusk, who chaired the summit.
The leaders seized hold of the Brexit process when May – after repeated questioning – proved unwilling, or perhaps unable, to tell them what she planned to do next week if she failed yet again to convince a sceptical British parliament to endorse the deal, EU officials said.
“We have to move forward. Our citizens, our companies have to be able to understand what the choice of the British parliament is. We hope that it will be a rational choice, that it will be a choice to maintain close economic and security links with the European Union,” Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said yesterday.
“We are now waiting for the British to say clearly to the European Union what they want for the future,” he told reporters.
The legally binding Brexit agreement May sealed with her EU partners last November has been rejected twice by British legislators.
“If parliament does not agree to a deal next week, the EU Council will extend Article 50 until April 12,” May said, referring to the treaty article governing Brexit. “At this point we would either leave with no deal or put forward an alternative plan.”
The Brexit battle now shifts back to Britain’s parliament. PRO-EU lawmakers said the bloc’s decision showed that May needed to change course and consider options other than her rejected deal.
They plan an attempt next week to force a change of direction by setting out a series of votes in parliament on the options, including a plan to keep close economic ties with the EU.
“We need to open up this process because we have rejected her deal, we’ve rejected no-deal, the EU has decided to give us a little more time and we’ve really got to get on with it,” said Labour Party lawmaker Hilary Benn, who chairs the House of Commons Brexit committee.
“This won’t work if the prime minister is not prepared to move an inch,” he said. “I’m afraid that’s the story of the last two and three-quarter years.” | African News Agency (ANA) AN IRISH minister yesterday suggested that a recent letter bomb campaign could be linked to uncertainty caused by Brexit in Northern Ireland.
Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan told national broadcaster RTE the finding of a suspicious package at a sorting office in the Irish city of Limerick yesterday appeared to be linked to the sending of several small letter bombs from Ireland to addresses in Britain this month.
Flanagan told the broadcaster’s Today radio programme the latest suspect package appeared to be “a dreadful consequence of the uncertainty surrounding Brexit... in the context of the heightened tensions in Northern Ireland”.
RTE and other media said about 100 people were evacuated from a sorting office in Limerick yesterday. The building is also Ireland’s national postal return centre, suggesting the package could be the missing fifth letter bomb that dissident Irish republicans claimed to have sent.
British police said last week they were investigating a media report that dissidents claiming to represent the Irish Republican Army had sent five letter bombs. | ANA