LONDON, Sept 1 — EU negotiator Michel Barnier said in an interview published today the bloc will not change the divorce deal agreed with Britain as MPs prepare for a showdown week over Brexit.
Barnier insisted the agreement’s most contentious element, a so-called backstop mechanism to keep the Northern Irish border open in all post-Brexit circumstances, must remain in place.
“The backstop is the maximum amount of flexibility that the EU can offer,” Barnier wrote in the Sunday Telegraph newspaper, following what he called “intense discussions” among member states.
He added he was “not optimistic” of avoiding Britain crashing out of the European Union without a deal on October 31.
The stance is an apparent setback for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who since taking power in July has called for the backstop to be scrapped.
He has insisted the country must depart the bloc under any circumstances on the latest delayed deadline in order to honour the 2016 referendum which saw 52 per cent of Britons vote to leave.
His bid to reopen the agreement struck with Brussels by predecessor Theresa May was encouraged by recent meetings with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron.
The British premier said in a Sunday Times interview he saw “some very interesting signs of progress in our conversations”.
However he conceded: “There’s a good chance we’ll get a deal and there’s a good chance that we won’t.”
Extension legislation
Johnson stoked controversy and protests yesterday across Britain after announcing Wednesday he had instructed Queen Elizabeth II to suspend parliament in the final weeks before Brexit.
The move was widely seen as a bid to limit the time his opponents will have to thwart a no-deal departure from the EU.
Thousands took to the streets of towns and cities across the country to decry the move to close parliament — known as proroguing — from mid-September until October 14.
Organisers using the slogan #StopTheCoup claimed as many as 100,000 people turned out in London.
MPs from across the political spectrum have vowed to introduce legislation blocking a no-deal exit as soon as they return to parliament from a six-week summer recess on Tuesday.
“We have simply got to stop us leaving without a deal,” Keir Starmer, Brexit spokesman for the main opposition Labour Party, told the BBC today.
He added the proposed law would be “simple” and “require an extension” to Britain’s departure date.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who will deliver a keynote speech in Manchester tomorrow, has said he will table a no-confidence vote in Johnson’s government — which has a majority of just one — if required to stop a no-deal Brexit.
‘National interest’
Johnson, who has invited Conservative whips and officials to the leader’s country retreat Chequers late Sunday to strategise, is considering advising the Queen not to give royal assent to any bill passed by the rebels, according to reports.
Arch-Brexiteer minister Michael Gove fuelled speculation about the tactic when asked Sunday if the government would accept such a law.
“Let’s see what the legislation says,” he told the BBC.
Labour’s finance spokesman John McDonnell branded the potential ploy “startling” and “beyond anything we’ve ever seen”.
“Johnson government is becoming an elective dictatorship,” he said on Twitter.
The prime minister reportedly may also throw Conservative lawmakers who vote against his government out of the parliamentary party.
Information blitz
Johnson’s decision to suspend parliament also sparked several legal challenges that will be heard this week.
A Scottish judge is expected to consider one Tuesday and a London court will hear another review — supported by former Conservative prime minister and staunch Brexit opponent John Major — on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the government continues to prepare for a possible no-deal Brexit, launching a £140 million public information campaign Sunday aimed at individuals, businesses and EU citizens.
Gove, head of no-deal preparations, vowed there would be no shortages of fresh food but conceded some prices could rise.
He also insisted that freedom of movement for EU nationals would end on October 31, despite a Sunday Times report that the plan had been postponed on the advice of lawyers. — AFP
