12 March 2019

The Guardian: May wins ‘improved’ Brexit deal but it may not be enough for MPs

Theresa May has called for MPs to “come together” to back her deal after claiming to have secured the legally binding changes parliament wanted to ensure the EU cannot trap the UK in the Irish backstop and a permanent customs union.

But within minutes of the start of a late-night joint press conference in Strasbourg, those words rang hollow, as Jean-Claude Juncker, the European commission president, conceded the EU had not agreed to the prime minister’s central demand.

Juncker told reporters that a freshly negotiated legal add-on to the Brexit deal, emphasising the temporary nature of the Irish backstop, “complements the withdrawal agreement without reopening it”.

He added that the new text was in “spirit and letter by letter” in accord with the EU’s commitment to an insurance policy from which he has repeatedly insisted neither side could unilaterally withdraw.

The commission president nevertheless rallied to May’s defence by warning MPs that Brussels would not be offering any further “reassurances or clarifications”.

“In politics sometimes you get a second chance, it is what we do with this second chance that counts because there there will be no third chance,” Juncker said. “There will be no further interpretation of the interpretation. No further assurances on the reassurances if the meaningful vote fails tomorrow.”

In an echo of the prime minister’s own warning to her Brexiter MPs, Juncker added: “Let us speak crystal clear about the choice: it is this deal, or Brexit might not happen at all.”

Following the historic defeat of her deal by 230 votes in January, May had promised MPs that she would secure a unilateral exit mechanism from the backstop, a time limit or its replacement with an alternative arrangement, such as a technological fix.

Asked whether she had secured those objectives in her 11th-hour dash to Strasbourg for talks with Juncker, May did not answer directly. “What we have secured is legally binding changes which is exactly what parliament asked us to secure,” she said. “And what we have secured is very clearly that the backstop cannot be indefinite, cannot become permanent. It is temporary if it is the case that we were ever to get into the backstop.”

The package unveiled by the two leaders involves three parts that Juncker said amounted to “meaningful legal assurances”.

A joint interpretative instrument added to the withdrawal agreement reiterates language already in the draft treaty that the EU could not seek to trap Britain in the backstop by failing to negotiate a new trade deal in good faith.

An additional joint statement in the political declaration on the future trade deal further commits both sides to work on developing new technologies at the border to be ready for December 2020.

The final part – a unilateral statement by the UK – argues that there would be nothing to stop Britain seeking to “disapply” the backstop if the EU did not act in good faith and negotiations on an alternative had broken down. [...]

Full article on The Guardian

Communication to the Commission on the endorsement by the Commission of the results of the discussions with the United Kingdom on Interpretative Declarations related to the Agreement on the withdrawal of the UK from the EU and Euratom

© The Guardian