May in the Netherlands as she fights to save Brexit deal
THE HAGUE: Top European Union officials yesterday ruled out any renegotiation of the divorce agreement with Britain as Prime Minister Theresa May launched her fight to save her Brexit deal by lobbying leaders in Europe’s capitals.
Ms May began her quest over breakfast with Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte, a day after she abandoned a vote in the UK Parliament to secure support for the agreement thrashed out with the EU over more than a year, sensing that it would be rejected in London “by a significant margin”.
While Ms May made no public comment as she met Mr Rutte in The Hague, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker warned that the Brexit agreement cannot be re-opened for negotiation at a summit of EU leaders tomorrow, but he did say that elements of the deal could still be clarified.
“There is no room whatsoever for renegotiation,” Mr Juncker told EU lawmakers in Strasbourg, France, as he briefed them on the summit.
Mr Juncker, who was to meet Ms May yesterday evening, underlined that “the deal we have achieved is the best deal possible. It is the only deal possible.’’
But he added that “if used intelligently, [there] is room enough to give further clarification and further interpretations without opening the withdrawal agreement”.
EU leaders have often supplemented agreements with political declarations that clarify their interpretation of elements of an accord or provide assurances about how parts of any deal might work.
In Brussels, Danish Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen also said that EU countries might be willing to clarify parts of the deal.
“It is always a political option to clarify if that is needed, what is meant, what kind of underlining is needed,” Mr Samuelsen said.
One of the main sticking points since the Brexit talks began has been how to keep goods flowing between Northern Ireland in the UK and EU member country Ireland, and Ms May is sure to seek flexibility on this from her European partners.
But Mr Juncker said that the so-called “backstop” — an insurance arrangement to ensure that no hard border appears after Brexit on March 29 — must remain, even though it was never meant to be used.
“We have a common determination to do everything to be not in the situation one day to use that backstop, but we have to prepare,” he said, and underlined that “Ireland will never be left alone.”
The European Parliament’s Brexit point man, Guy Verhofstadt, noted that with the cancelled vote in London “we have spiralled again into a new mess”, and he supported Mr Juncker’s message.
“Whatever the request may be we will never let down our Irish friends. It is out of the question to renegotiate the backstop,” Mr Verhofstadt said.
If the Brexit deal is accepted by the UK Parliament, it must still be endorsed by the European Parliament before March 29.
It always seemed ludicrous for Theresa May to hold a vote she was set to lose by a large margin. And yet her decision to delay it brought not relief, but confusion and dismay. Ms May was jeered almost as soon as she opened her mouth in the House of Commons to announce she would postpone the vote in order to ask European Union leaders to sweeten a pill British lawmakers don’t want to swallow. The Speaker of the House, John Bercow, berated her. Opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is now under increasing pressure to call a motion of no confidence. The Institute of Directors, representing businesses, criticised “another extension of the frustration and uncertainty”. The pound slumped to the lowest level since April 2017.
Let’s reserve judgement for the time being on whether the Brexit roller-coaster just hit a sudden, jerky turn or is about to derail altogether, leaving Britain to exit the EU without a deal in place, or has stalled leaving its passengers marooned in the air. The manner of the reversal itself says a lot about where we are.
The decision to delay — taken only hours after government ministers Stephen Barclay and Michael Gove had taken to the airwaves to say they were certain it was going ahead — was clearly born of desperation; the result of an endgame that has not at all gone according to plan. Presumably the ministers who so publicly promised the vote would go ahead were relaying what they thought was a true reflection of Ms May’s plans. Politicians of Mr Gove’s profile don’t go on national TV or radio saying something is 100% certain only to be proved totally wrong hours later. In all likelihood, Ms May herself changed her mind at the last minute.
Perhaps she felt it was the only way she could wring last-minute concessions out of Brussels; but that never seemed likely, and the EU continues to insist it will not reopen negotiations on the most controversial part of her deal, the guarantee that keeps the Irish border open by indefinitely locking the UK into a customs union with the EU. She now plans to go back to Brussels tomorrow to ask for concessions. It is in Europe’s interest, too, that the deal survives and EU leaders may try to help out by adding reassurances without reopening the legally binding terms of the agreement. But whatever she gets from Brussels is likely to fall far short of the unilateral exit from the backstop, or time limit on it, that many Conservatives are seeking.
There are other reasons the prime minister may want to play for time. It’s possible that Ms May is now reconsidering her opposition to a second referendum, something many in her own party and the opposition Labour Party are calling for. That would require settling on a format or question that would win agreement; a task only marginally less complicated than sorting out the backstop. Or she could be taking a step back to prepare for what seems like an inevitable vote of confidence, either coming from within her own party or the opposition.
This is not how cohesive governments operate. Ms May looks cornered on the chess board. She has some moves left, but they are limited and look desperate. Her best card, which she played on Monday, remains the lack of an alternative plan or an alternative leader. That may not be enough.
Whether or not the UK is pursuing Brexit in name only, as many Brexiters claim, it certainly has a government in name only. Ms May will go to Brussels next, but where Brexit ultimately goes looks to be out of her hands.