Yahoo Finance Brexit deal is '0% agreed' until Irish border issue solved, Verhofstadt tells May
Theresa May has been told to consider the Brexit deal “0% agreed” until the Irish border impasse is solved.
The prime minister told MPs on Monday that the Withdrawal Agreement is now 95% complete and that the Irish backstop is the “one real sticking point left” in negotiations.
That was already a more generous assessment than the EU has made – the bloc’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier believes 90% of separation issues have been resolved.
Now European parliament Brexit coordinator Guy Verhofstadt has dealt another blow to May’s claims in what he called the “battle of the figures.”
Speaking to MEPs in Strasbourg, Verhofstadt said: “Mrs May says 95% has been agreed. Michel Barnier says 90% has been agreed. I know that Britain has always had difficulties with the Metric system.
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“But I have to tell you one thing: if it is 90 or 95 or 99, if there is no solution for the Irish border then for our parliament it is 0% that is agreed for the moment.
“We need an agreement on the Irish border and the Good Friday Agreement has to be protected.”
Verhofstadt made the comments in a debate on last week’s European Council summit, where leaders had so little Brexit progress to discuss some of them went for a beer.
“It was made clear by the UK that more time is needed to find a precise solution [on the Irish border],” said European Council president Donald Tusk. “Therefore, there is no other way but to continue the talks.”
Tusk also said that May had “mentioned the idea of extending the transition period” at the summit – a detail which is likely to infuriate Brexit supporters in her party.
European Commission first vice-president Frans Timmermans backed Verhofstadt’s tough message to London amid fears that UK negotiators are gambling on the EU blinking over the backstop at the final moment.
“We will not rush a deal through at expense of our principles or our agreed commitments, most notably on the Irish border question,” said Timmermans.
Syed Kamall, the leader of the Conservative’s group, insisted though that the prime minister’s position on the backstop was not a “negotiating position or a bluff” and blamed EU leaders for slow progress.
“It was clear that, as leaders sat on the Grand Place sharing a joke and a drink instead of continuing until the early hours of the morning that there was no real sense of urgency around reaching a deal at this summit,” he said.
UKIP MEP Nigel Farage called the Irish border issue a “red herring” and claimed the prime minister was leading the UK to a “humiliating sell out” over a Brexit deal in December.
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Hitting back at Farage later, Tusk said: “It is the Brexiteers who are 100% responsible for bringing back the problem of the Irish border.”
A spokesperson for the largest group in the European parliament, the centre-right EPP, said last week’s summit was an “opportunity wasted” to “show Theresa May that she has to take her responsibility on board.”
“Our dear British friends, the ball is in your court,” she added.
Socialist group leader Udo Bullman backed demands for a second referendum made during a march by supporters of the People’s Vote group in London on Saturday.
“Once they have seen the lies of the Brexiteers, the British people deserve to have a final say on their future,” he said. “This is my firm belief and this is my understanding of democracy.”
Timmersmans added later: “As a democrat, as a human being, who in this house has never ever changed their minds on anything? But we’ll leave that with the British people. That’s not for us to judge.”
