No-Deal Brexit will not be an EU decision – Barnier
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A no-deal Brexit will “never be the decision of the EU,” the bloc’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier said Tuesday.
POLITICO says that his statement, made after briefing EU ministers attending the General Affairs Council in Luxembourg, will offer reassurance to businesses and citizens on both sides of the Channel who are concerned that the U.K. could crash out of the EU on Friday.
April 12 is currently the legal exit date unless EU leaders grant an extension at a special summit in Brussels Wednesday evening.
The Guardianearlier reported that Britain is likely to be offered a final long extension ending on 31 December after the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, failed to convince the the bloc’s capitals that Theresa May has a plan to break the Brexit impasse.
A number of member states, most prominently France, along with Slovenia, Greece, Austria and Spain, remain sceptical about a lengthy extension, citing the risks to the EU of Britain behaving badly.
Barnier implored EU ministers meeting in Luxembourg to keep the pressure on MPs to back the deal by supporting May’s request for a Brexit delay only up until 30 June, a leaked diplomatic note of the debate reveals.
At a summit three weeks ago, leaders agreed that London must either pass the Withdrawal Agreement and leave by May 22 or, if it doesn’t, then it has to come up with an alternative proposal by Friday. U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May sent a letter last week formally requesting an extension until June 30 in which she pledged to start preparations for the European Parliament election taking place at the end of next month.
Meanwhile, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox told Tory MPs that a Customs Union is the “worst of both worlds” and will leave Britain unable to set its own trade policy in a leaked letter obtained by The Telegraph.
The said that the UK will itself be “traded” by the European Union as it sells access to British markets as part of future deals after Brexit.
