EUROCRAT FROM HELL
Fury over EU president’s incendiary jibe at the Brexiteers who battled to be rid of him
EU CHIEF Donald Tusk was under intense pressure to apologise last night after saying leading Eurosceptics deserve a ‘special place in Hell’.
The European Council president hurled a grenade into today’s talks with Theresa May, saying the EU was ‘not making any new offer’ to rescue her Brexit deal.
Mr Tusk, who has previously called for a second referendum, then attacked senior Brexiteers, saying: ‘I’ve been wondering what that special place in Hell looks like for those who promoted Brexit without even a sketch of a plan how to carry it out safely.’
Incredibly, he was then caught laughing on microphone after Irish premier Leo Varadkar whispered to him that the British would give him ‘terrible trouble’ over the jibe.
Last night, Cabinet ministers rounded on Mr Tusk, with Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom calling on him to apologise. The extraordinary row came as: Downing Street said Mrs May was still deliberating over what concessions to seek from Brussels on the controversial Irish backstop;
Labour MPs in talks with Mrs May predicted she would bring forward a new Employment Bill to protect workers’ rights as part of a bid to win their support on Brexit;
Whitehall sources said Parliament could be asked to sit ‘around the clock’ if a deal is struck, to ensure the UK leaves on time on March 29;
Hardline Brexiteers warned that even a time-limit on the Irish backstop would not be enough to persuade them to back the deal;
Labour called on the Government to delay Brexit to prevent the ‘ mayhem and chaos’ of a No Deal departure next month;
Mr Varadkar, who will hold talks with Mrs May in Dublin tomorrow, said the political chaos in London demonstrated why the backstop plan was needed.
Mrs Leadsom said Mr Tusk’s ‘ spiteful’ comment ‘ totally demeans him’. She added: ‘What he has said is pretty unacceptable and pretty disgraceful.
‘I’m sure that when he reflects on it, he may well wish he hadn’t done it. This is a negotiation between friends, allies, neighbours. It’s supposed to be collegiate and collaborative.’
Home Secretary Sajid Javid said Mr Tusk’s comments were ‘out of order’, while Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: ‘It’s this sort of arrogance that drives antipathy towards the EU. We are a country that upholds the result of democratic votes. Our EU partners need to respect that.’
Sammy Wilson, the DUP’s Brexit spokesman, went further, branding Mr Tusk a ‘ devilish, trident-wielding, euro maniac’.
Mr Tusk’s incendiary outburst caused irritation in Downing Street as Mrs May prepared to travel to Brussels today for talks. Her official spokesman said: ‘It’s a question for Donald Tusk as to whether he considers the use of that sort of language to be helpful – and I appreciate that was difficult this morning, because he didn’t take any questions.’
Mrs May will hold talks with European Commission chief JeanClaude Juncker and the European Parliament’s chief Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt today, as well as Mr Tusk. Downing Street sources played down the prospect of a breakthrough, saying today’s meetings were ‘part of a process’.
Mr Juncker attempted to laugh off Mr Tusk’s comments, saying: ‘I am lot less Catholic than my good friend Donald... I believe in Heaven’, before joking that working for the European Commission is ‘hell’. But Mr Verhofstadt backed Mr Tusk, saying: ‘I doubt Lucifer would welcome them (Brexiteers), as after what they did to Britain, they would even manage to divide Hell.’
Mr Tusk’s undiplomatic outburst was welcomed by some diehard Remainers. Former Tory minister Anna Soubry said Mr Tusk was simply ‘telling it like it is’ – and suggested his comments applied to a string of prominent Brexiteers, including Boris Johnson, David Davis, Nigel Farage and Dominic Raab.
Miriam Gonzalez Durantez, wife of Nick Clegg, also backed Mr Tusk. In a message on Instagram, she said: ‘Well, that covers the Prime Minister Theresa May and the 494 MPs who voted in favour of giving the Article 50 notice. Hell is going to be really, really crowded.’
But it dismayed moderate Tory Remainers. Former Cabinet minister Stephen Crabb said Mr Tusk’s comments were ‘extraordinary’, adding: ‘ Especially given how smug some EU officials have been about how good they are at the diplomacy thing.’
Nick Boles, another former minister, said: ‘Donald Tusk has just encapsulated perfectly why I do not believe the UK can remain a member of the EU.’
Mrs May’s bid to revive her Brexit deal is focused on reforming the Irish backstop, which critics fear could keep the UK in the customs union against its will.
Whitehall sources said she would present a ‘menu of options’ for reform, including plans for putting a time limit on the backstop and giving the UK a unilateral exit clause. She will also discuss backbench plans to use ‘alternative arrangements’ to prevent a hard border on the island of Ireland.
Mrs May, who spent yesterday in Northern Ireland holding talks with local politicians, will restate her commitment to avoiding a hard border.
But she will warn EU leaders that without legally-binding changes to
the backstop, there is no prospect of the deal being approved by MPs.
Her spokesman said: ‘The fact is that the deal that was on the table has been rejected by 230 votes. So if, as they state, they wish for us to leave with a deal, there are going to have to be changes made.’
WHAT a time to be indulging in gratuitous mud-slinging. Just when negotiations over Brexit require calm and constructive dialogue, in comes sniggering Donald Tusk declaring there should be a ‘special place in hell’ for hard-Brexiteers.
Such incendiary language from the political head of the EU at this crucial moment risks sabotaging an eleventh-hour deal over the Northern Ireland backstop, which could end months of damaging uncertainty for both Britain and Europe.
But, of course, Mr Tusk enjoys lobbing grenades into this sensitive political process. In September he helpfully posted a photo of himself offering Theresa May a slice of cake at a summit, accompanied by the caption ‘Sorry, no cherries’.
This crude reference to alleged UK cherrypicking over Brexit was followed last week by his appearance in a BBC documentary during which he described the UK referendum as ‘stupid’.
But this diehard Eurocrat’s contempt for the popular will should hardly be a surprise. The EU boasts three presidents – of its council, commission and parliament – and none is elected by the people.
Democratic accountability is woefully lacking in Brussels – one of the reasons so many Britons want rid of its influence.
And as Mr Tusk dispenses insults, national leaders who are responsible to their electorates are looking for pragmatic solutions.
The prime minister of Poland – Mr Tusk’s home nation – has called for a time-limit on the backstop to save Mrs May’s deal. Meanwhile, Angela Merkel hints at a compromise, saying there is still time to break the Irish border impasse.
As Mr Tusk snipes from his glass tower, the eurozone is stumbling towards crisis, with static growth in Italy and even Germany close to recession.
The last thing the EU needs is a chaotic breakdown in trading relations with Europe’s second-biggest economy – or a bureaucrat who prefers mischief-making to grown-up politics.