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Brexit: EU leaders back Theresa May's deal in Brussels Brexit: Juncker warns British MPs against voting down May's deal
(about 5 hours later)
EU leaders have given their backing to the Brexit deal struck with Theresa May, firing the starting pistol on the prime minister’s race to win parliamentary approval in time for the UK’s withdrawal next March. Jean-Claude Juncker has warned British MPs planning to send Theresa May back to Brussels by voting down her Brexit deal that it would take the EU just “seconds” to crush their hopes.
At an extraordinary summit in Brussels, the bloc’s 27 heads of state and government took a decisive and historic step towards sealing the terms of Britain’s split from Brussels after 45 years of membership. In an uncompromising and direct message to Westminster, the European commission president claimed the bloc had made its final offer.
Unanimous support was given to the terms of a voluminous draft withdrawal treaty, covering citizens’ rights, the £39bn divorce bill, and the Irish border issue, along with a 26-page political declaration setting out the basis of the future relationship. “I am totally convinced that this is the only deal possible,” Juncker said. “Those who think that by rejecting the deal that they would have a better deal will be disappointed in the first seconds after the rejection of this deal.”
In a statement, the EU’s leaders stated their intention to build “as close as possible a partnership” with the UK after Brexit, while warning that they would be “permanently seized” in future negotiations by the principle that countries outside the bloc cannot enjoy the same rights as those within. The EU’s leaders had earlier taken a decisive step at the special Brexit summit towards sealing the terms of Britain’s split from Brussels after 45 years of membership.
Brussels has already rejected the proposals thrashed out this summer at Chequers, the prime minister’s country retreat, to achieve “frictionless trade” in goods after Brexit. Without need for discussion, the 27 member states unanimously backed the terms of the voluminous draft withdrawal treaty, covering citizens’ rights, the £39bn divorce bill and the solution for the Irish border, along with a 26-page political declaration setting out the basis of the future relationship.
Further statements issued on Sunday morning by the 27 EU leaders laid out their intention to maintain the rights of European fleets to fish in British waters. The EU also issued a series of unilateral statements about its red lines for the future trade talks, in particular on the rights of European fishing boats in British waters and the need for Britain to stay in regulatory alignment with the bloc.
There was a thinly veiled threat to block any transition extension unless a new arrangement with Brussels was swiftly agreed by the government. Emmanuel Macron, the French president, suggested that without swift agreement on those issues, the UK would have to fall back on the customs union envisioned in the withdrawal agreement, designed as a last resort to solve the Irish border problem should a wider deal not be in place.
Arriving at the summit, the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, nevertheless advised MPs to vote for the deal on the table, suggesting that a “no” vote could damage negotiations on the future relationship. He said: “We as 27 have a clear position on fair competition, on fish, on the subject of the EU’s regulatory autonomy, and that forms part of our lines for the future relationship talks.
“Now it is time for everybody to take their responsibilities, everybody,” he said. The deal was “a necessary step to build the trust between the UK and the EU” to build “an unprecedented and ambitious future partnership”. “It is a lever, because it is in our mutual interest to have this future relationship. I can’t imagine that the desire of Theresa May or her supporters is to remain for the long term in a customs union, but to define a proper future relationship which resolves this problem.”
The European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, said: “I would vote in favour of this deal because this is the best deal possible for Britain. If MPs reject the deal, there are seven possible paths the country could go down next.
“I’m sad because watching the UK … leaving the EU is not a moment for jubilation but a moment of deep sadness and we make everything possible in order to have this divorce being as smooth as possible. but there are no smooth divorces. May brings it back to MPsPerhaps with minor tweaks after a dash to Brussels. ​MPs knuckle under and vote it through.
“This is the deal, it’s the best deal possible and the EU will not change its fundamental position when it comes to this issue so I do think the British parliament – because this is a wise parliament – will ratify this deal.” May resigns immediatelyIt is hard to imagine her surviving for long. After a rapid leadership contest, a different leader could appeal to a majority in parliament, perhaps by offering a softer deal.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron described it as “not a day to celebrate”, while the Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, warned MPs no better deal was on offer from the EU, urging them to back the agreements the May was bringing back to parliament. Tory backbenchers depose herJacob Rees-Mogg gets his way and there is a no-confidence vote. A new leader then tries to assemble a majority behind a tweaked deal.
“If I would live in the UK I would say yes to this, I would say that this is very much acceptable to the United Kingdom,” Rutte said, because the deal “limited the impacts of Brexit while balancing the vote to leave”. In a bid to help the prime minister, he said May had “fought very hard” and now there was “an acceptable deal on the table”. May calls a general electionMay could choose to take the ultimate gamble and hope that voters would back her deal, over the heads of squabbling MPs.
“You know I hate [Brexit] but it is a given,” he told reporters. “No one is a victor here today, nobody is winning, we are all losing.” Labour tries to force an electionThe opposition tables a vote of no confidence. ​If May lost​, the opposition (or a new Conservative leader) would have two weeks to form an alternative government that could win a second confidence vote. If they were unable to do so, a general election would be triggered.
May will hope that the leaders’ endorsement of the terms of the UK’s divorce will mark the end of nearly 18 months of arduous negotiations, during which the prime minister has survived cabinet resignations and an attempted coup by Brexiters on her own back-benches. A second referendum gathers supportThis is most likely if Labour makes a last-ditch decision to back it. 
Should the withdrawal agreement be ratified in Westminster and the European parliament, it is further agreed that the UK will stay in the single market and customs union, without representation in any decision-making institutions, for a 21-month-long transition period following withdrawal on the 29 March 2019. No dealThe EU (Withdrawal) Act specifies 29 March 2019 as Brexit day. Amber Rudd has said she believes parliament would stop a no deal, but it is not clear how it would do so.
The European council president, Donald Tusk, conceded that ratification of the deal in the UK parliament would be “difficult”.
A senior EU official said a number of leaders had wished May “good luck” during the hour-long meeting with the British prime minister. It is understood that some in the room had sought to discuss how the EU would respond to May’s deal being rejected, but that it had not been encouraged. “After this long, long process I really can’t see how we could ever go there,” the official said.
Juncker congratulated the member states on maintaining unity during the 18 months of talks despite “pressure from the UK”, but his focus during an end-of-summit press conference was on sending a message to the UK parliament.
“I am inviting those who have to ratify this deal in the House of Commons to take this into consideration: this is the best deal possible for Britain, this is the best deal possible for Europe,” he said. “This is the only deal possible – the only deal possible.”
We don’t want to create the false impression a better deal can be negotiated. It can't.
The chancellor of Austria, Sebastian Kurz, echoed the sentiment. “It is a take it or leave it situation and the British negotiators know this and hopefully also the British delegates and now it is up to them to make a decision,” he said.
Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister, said leaders had made a “conscious decision” not to discuss an alternative to the deal, adding it was a case of “this deal or no deal”. “We don’t want to create the false impression to the UK that a better deal can be negotiated”, he said. “It can’t.”
Macron and the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, offered more nuanced responses when asked what the EU would do should the British parliament vote the deal down. Merkel said it was “very difficult” to respond to “speculations”.
: “If that were the case it would first of all be for Great Britain to make proposals, but we should be prepared for any situation,” Macron said, referring to France’s “no-deal” draft legislation.
Asked if there was any divergence in views within the EU, an official said Juncker’s comments had been a “very realistic assessment that after this tortuous and long negotiation that what is on the table is the only possible deal given the positions of the UK”, in a possible indication that only a major shift in the British government’s red lines could offer hope of further negotiations.
On endorsing the deal, the EU issued a statement committing to build “as close as possible a partnership” with the UK after Brexit, while warning that they would be “permanently seized” in future negotiations by the principle that countries outside the bloc cannot enjoy the same rights as those within.
Brussels has rejected the proposals thrashed out this summer at Chequers, the prime minister’s country retreat, to achieve “frictionless trade” in goods after Brexit.
Should the withdrawal agreement be ratified in Westminster and the European parliament, it is agreed that the UK will stay in the single market and customs union, without representation in any decision-making institutions, for a 21-month-long transition period following withdrawal on 29 March.
An extension of that period of “up to one or two years” is foreseen should the negotiations over the future relationship not be completed by the end of 2020.An extension of that period of “up to one or two years” is foreseen should the negotiations over the future relationship not be completed by the end of 2020.
May must now return to the cut and thrust of parliamentary politics in Westminster, as she battles to convince MPs, including many in her own party, to back her painstakingly negotiated deal in the “meaningful vote”. EU officials said they believed the meaningful vote on the deal would be on 10 or 11 December, just before the next scheduled meeting of EU leaders in Brussels.
In her open letter to the British public published on Sunday, May promised to campaign “with my heart and soul to win that vote and to deliver this Brexit deal”. The agreement had appeared at risk in the days leading up to the summit, when Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, threatened to withhold support unless Britain conceded that the British overseas territory of Gibraltar, over which Spain has a long-running territorial claim, would be covered by a future trade deal only with Madrid’s consent.
She said the vote would take place in “a few weeks”. Opposition whips expect the government to announce the date this week – with the betting at Westminster on 10 or 11 December, just before the next scheduled meeting of EU leaders in Brussels. There are likely to be upwards of 30 hours of debate in the deeply divided House of Commons, over the course of several days. The British ambassador to the EU, Sir Tim Barrow, gave that commitment in a letter on Saturday afternoon, prompting outrage across the political spectrum by what was described as a “betrayal” of Gibraltar.
With more than 80 of the prime minister’s own party having publicly expressed scepticism about the deal, and Labour pledged to oppose it – barring a likely handful of rebels – May faces a formidable challenge in winning the vote. Yet losing it would plunge Britain into what May herself has called, “deep and grave uncertainty”. On Sunday, Sánchez, who has vowed to open talks on joint sovereignty of the disputed territory, described the concession as “a very significant political achievement”.
The EU is keenly aware that the British parliament could reject the deal, but want to show the bloc was able to make an offer to the UK. “It places us in a position of strength in a central theme,” he said. “The idea of the government of Spain is to solve once and for all a conflict that has existed for more than 300 years.”
The agreement had appeared at risk in the days leading up to the summit, when Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, threatened to withhold support unless Britain conceded that the British overseas territory of Gibraltar, over which the Spanish have a long-running territorial claim, would be covered by a future trade deal only with Madrid’s consent. The European parliament also has to give its consent to the deal, which is expected in January, according to its president, Antonio Tajani. “We will vote for the agreement, there is a majority in favour,” he said. “This is a message to our friends in the British parliament: this is a good agreement for both.”
The British ambassador to the EU, Sir Tim Barrow, gave that commitment in a letter on Saturday afternoon, prompting outrage across the political spectrum by what was described as a “betrayal” of the Rock.
Asked how Spain’s threatened “veto” was solved, Lithuania’s president, Dalia Grybauskaitė, said as she arrived at the summit: “Usually there are some tricks, we promise to promise.”
EU leaders see the summit as a sombre moment. “There is nothing good for any side because it is withdrawal from the European Union,” Grybauskaitė added.
The European parliament also has to give its consent to the deal, which is expected in January, according to its president, Antonio Tajani. “We will vote for the agreement, there is a majority in favour”, he said. “This is a message to our friends in the British parliament: this is a good agreement for both.”
BrexitBrexit
European UnionEuropean Union
EuropeEurope
Foreign policyForeign policy
Theresa MayTheresa May
Michel BarnierMichel Barnier
Mark RutteMark Rutte
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