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In a sign of the heightened risk of an accidental crash-landing for the UK, both leaders signalled their disapproval of Theresa May’s suggestion of a last-minute request for a two-month extension if her deal is voted down again.
The French president said there would need to be a clear purpose to delaying the UK’s exit from the EU, in comments that will inevitably raise cross-party concerns among those seeking to take no-deal Brexit off the table.
“We would support an extension request only if it was justified by a new choice of the British,” Macron said at a joint press conference held with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel. “But we would in no way accept an extension without a clear objective.
Merkel offered a more compromising tone. “We are absolutely in agreement, and I have talked to Theresa May about this in Sharm el-Sheik a couple of days ago, the exit agreement is valid,” Merkel said. “If Great Britain needs more time we will not oppose it but of course we are seeking an orderly exit. We regret this step, but it is reality and we now have to find a good solution.”
The Spanish prime minister,Pedro Sánchez, who has been a thorn in the UK prime minister’s side in recent months, told his parliament in Madrid that there would be conditions attached to an extension of the article 50 negotiating period.
May had suggested in the Commons on Tuesday that the UK could seek a short two-month extension for further talks should parliament not ratify the Brexit deal by 13 March.
But Sánchez, who is facing a general election in late April, said he would want to be clear that it was not merely delaying an inevitable crash-landing for the UK out of the EU.
The Spanish premier also insisted that there was no prospect of the EU softening in its rejection of a time limit on the Irish backstop or unilateral exit mechanism should the government wish to leave the shared customs territory it envisages to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland.
Sánchez said: “The position of Spain, as I have conveyed to Prime Minister Theresa May in different telephone conversations, is the same: it is not possible to temporarily limit the backstop or to allow a unilateral exit from it.
“Due to its nature as a security mechanism, it is not possible to set a term for it. It is not only a matter of solidarity with one of our partners, Ireland, but also of preserving the peace that was achieved in Northern Ireland decades ago.”
Sánchez, who at one point threatened to veto the Brexit deal unless the UK offered some assurances that Gibraltar will only be covered with Madrid’s consent, added: “It cannot be ruled out that the British prime minister requests an extension of article 50 of the EU treaty as she said yesterday. [...]