The British Parliament voted on Tuesday 29th January, calling for an amendment to the Brexit agreement, which Brussels and Emmanuel Macron immediately rejected
Just two months before Brexit , Prime Minister Theresa May on Tuesday 29th January 2019 was given by British MPs a mandate to reopen negotiations with Brussels, but the European Union immediately refused, a dialogue of the deaf with uncertain outcome.
This is a big turnaround for the conservative leader, who proclaimed just a few weeks ago that her “Treaty of withdrawal” of the EU, bitterly negotiated for months with Brussels but rejected two weeks ago by British MPs , was the “best” and “the only possible”.
“My colleagues and I will talk to the EU about how we can respond to what the House wants” in the House of Commons and seek “legally binding changes”, she told MEPs, recognizing that “it would not be easy”, given “the limited appetite within the EU for such a change”.
WATCH LIVE: PM @Theresa_May opens the Brexit debate in @HouseofCommons https://t.co/YVVMIl1WMV
— UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) 29 January 2019
This treaty “is not renegotiable”, replied the EU
This treaty concluded in November “is not renegotiable”, has also immediately responded to a spokesman for the President of the European Council Donald Tusk.
Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron, who was on a trip to Cyprus, also dismissed the deal, saying the deal was “the best possible deal and not renegotiable”.
He called on the British government to “quickly present” to EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier “the next steps that will prevent an exit without agreement that no one wants but to which we must all prepare ourselves”.
[CHRONOLOGIE]
Du référendum du 23 juin 2016 au vote hier par les députés britanniques pour renégocier l’accord conclu avec Bruxelles, voici les différentes étapes du #Brexit :
➡️https://t.co/gEFVcfsZ8M #AFP pic.twitter.com/0j1Qkjmkmb— Agence France-Presse (@afpfr) 30 January 2019
The divorce agreement, supposedly to organise an orderly Brexit, had been overwhelmingly rejected on January 15 by British MPs and the prime minister has since been trying to get the process back on track to avoid an exit without agreement, a scenario feared by economic circles.
If she wants to renegotiate this text, Theresa May will also consider a series of non-binding amendments voted Tuesday night by British MPs.
One of them excludes an exit from the European Union without agreement. The other, supported by the executive, is calling for a change to the treaty of withdrawal, in particular a controversial “backstop” provision aimed at preventing the return to a physical boundary between the British province of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
Passionate exchanges
On the other hand, MPs rejected an amendment by Labour MP (Opposition) Yvette Cooper, which could have resulted in postponing the date of Brexit, scheduled for 29th March. This rejection caused the fall of the pound, a sign of concern in the economic sector.
“Extending Article 50 would not prevent an exit without agreement”, remarked Theresa May during the debates, which gave rise to passionate exchanges between members of all sides.
The Prime Minister pledged to have a revised agreement read “as soon as possible”. If no agreement is reached with the EU by February 13, she announced her intention to hold a vote on February 14 on a departure without agreement.
For Anand Menon, a researcher at King’s College London, “the Prime Minister will use all of this to prove to members, apart from the most recalcitrant, that the backstop can not be renegotiated and they will face the reality Brexit: either vote for the agreement, or for a new referendum, or an exit without agreement “.
Video. Emmanuel Macron: the agreement on Brexit is the “best possible”:
“You have to reopen them because the backstop is unacceptable”
Opposition Leader Jeremy Corbyn this time said he is ready to meet Theresa May to find a “reasonable solution” that guarantees “workers’ rights”.
The idea of reopening these negotiations was provoking mixed reactions in the ranks of Brexit supporters and opponents in the Westminster Parliament.
“We have to reopen them because the backstop is unacceptable,” Philip Aiston, a 66 – year – old Brexiter, told AFP . Nick Jackson, a 48-year-old europhile, denounced the emptiness of the company: EU leaders “have already said no (to new negotiations). They said no more than once. I do not know why she does not understand.
