Brexit deal ‘will not’ be renegotiated: EU – ‘Negotiations complete’

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Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May visits a ward at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital to launch the NHS Long Term Plan, in Liverpool, England on Jan 7. (AP)

BRUSSELS, Jan 7, (RTRS): The European Commission repeated on Monday that EU leaders would not renegotiate a Brexit treaty agreed last month with Prime Minister Theresa May and was pressing on with planning for Britain to crash out of the Union without a deal.

“The deal that is on the table is the best and the only deal possible,” chief spokesman Margaritis Schinas told reporters when asked about a phone conversation on Friday between May and Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. “This deal will not be renegotiated.” He also repeated that there were no talks planned between negotiators from the two sides as “negotiations are complete”.

Schinas repeated that Juncker’s conversation with May on Friday was “friendly” and that the two would speak again this week. May has failed to win parliamentary support for the treaty she agree with fellow leaders of the European Union last month and is expected to put it to a vote next week.

At a summit on Dec 14, she urged EU leaders to modify some terms but they insisted they would not reopen the agreement. Meanwhile, British citizens will not need to leave Germany if their country leaves the European Union without an exit deal, an interior ministry spokesman said. British citizens will retain their residence rights for a three months period, with further extensions possible, the spokesman said, adding that during that time, they would have to register to acquire a formal right to remain.

A transport ministry spokeswoman said Germany was in close contact with Britain with a view to avoiding disruption to air transport links in the case of a disordered Brexit. Britain’s government sent a convoy of 87 trucks on a testrun from a little-used airport to the country’s main trading gateway to continental Europe on Monday – a rehearsal for the upheaval of a no-deal Brexit that was mocked as a clumsy waste of money. Prime Minister Theresa May is trying to force her Brexit deal through parliament.

If it is rejected as expected, however, business chiefs and investors fear the world’s fifth-largest economy will leave the European Union without an agreement on their future relationship at 2300 GMT on March 29. With lawmakers deadlocked, the ultimate destination of the Brexit project remains unclear. Possible outcomes range from another referendum on European Union membership to a disorderly departure with no deal. May’s government has repeatedly warned that a no deal will lead to severe economic disruption, and Monday’s exercise was part of preparations to ensure essential supplies can keep flowing through Dover, Europe’s busiest ferry port.

The transport ministry said it was testing Manston airfield as a holding facility for lorries and traffic congestion on Kent roads in the event of disruption at the border. Setting off from Manston, 87 trucks drove the 20 miles (32 km) to Dover and then back again. They will repeat the run later on Monday. “Less than a hundred lorries is a drop in the ocean compared to the more than 10,000 that go to the channel ports every day,” said Charlie Elphicke, a Conservative lawmaker for Dover. “Sending lorries across Kent on a wild goose chase to Manston airport and then to the port of Dover by small and winding, often single track ‘A roads’ through Kent villages is not the right plan.”

Dover has been Britain’s most important gateway to Europe since Roman times and the port now handles 17 percent of the United Kingdom’s goods trade. Up to 16,000 trucks a day pass through with everything from perishable food to medicines. Layla Moran, a Liberal Democrat lawmaker who wants another referendum on EU membership, said the truck journey was a farce. “The idea that creating a fake traffic jam will show the EU we are ready for no deal is just plain stupid,” Moran said. “This is a taxpayer-funded farce.”

This news has been read 11771 times!

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