26 January 2019

POLITICO: Guy Verhofstadt: UK cross-party effort could stop Brexit

Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament's "Mr. Brexit," is holding out hope that a cross-party group of British lawmakers will stop Britain crashing out of the EU without a deal and potentially help trigger a second referendum.

"I see an evolution. There is a desire in some quarters, such as the backbenchers, to take an approach that goes beyond those taken by the British parties," Verhofstadt told Belgian newspapers L’Echo et De Tijd in an interview published Saturday. "Will they succeed in getting a majority? We have to wait until next week. But I hope so."

The "massive rejection" of Theresa May's Brexit agreement in the U.K. parliament is proof that "a majority of Brits want a deeper relationship with Europe," according to Verhofstadt.

The Belgian liberal MEP conceded it was still unclear whether Labour and Conservative MPs could overcome their differences to side-step a no-deal Brexit, not to mention stop Brexit altogether, adding that "it seems that the parties' interests are more important than the country's."

He also reiterated that both sides could only move forward if the British shifts its red lines.

"The European Union is ready to continue working on the political declaration about future relations with the U.K.," he said. "We are ready to agree to a closer relationship. A customs union, a single market — all that to avoid damage and find a solution in which the Irish backstop will never have to be used, even if the most pessimistic scenario."

Verhofstadt also said the EU institutions will adopt about 20 urgent measures in the coming weeks "to protect the interests of [EU] citizens" as well as transport companies, airlines and the fishing industry. "It's not up to European citizens to pay for the costs of Brexit," he said.

Full article on POLITICO

Guy Verhofstadt on Project Syndicate: Brexit Demands a New British Politics

[...]To be sure, “Remain”-orientated Conservative and Labour MPs have complained that the political declaration is not prescriptive enough, while Brexiteers argue that it is too prescriptive. But the EU made clear from the very start that a divorce treaty must be concluded before the details of the future relationship can be negotiated. No amount of griping will change that now.

Besides, the framework outlined in the political declaration can still be revised in the coming weeks. For example, Andrew Duff, a Liberal Democrat Remainer, has suggested that a UK-specific conceptualization of the free movement of people or customs-union membership could break the parliamentary impasse.

But while British politicians will no doubt find new doors to open, whether they can reach a multiparty agreement on which one to walk through remains uncertain. Cross-party solutions do not come naturally to the UK’s bipolar, adversarial political system. And yet, where there’s a will, there’s a way to put the national interest before narrow partisan concerns.

A multiparty approach is, of course, familiar to continental European politicians. EU legislation regularly ends up being finalized through late-night negotiations between MEPs and ministers who have locked themselves in a room to thrash out the necessary compromises.

A cultural shift toward an EU-style “co-decision” process could well win the support of the British public, as well as of European Brexit negotiators, who have been eagerly awaiting a more representative position from London for two years now. And if British political leaders are to have any hope of uniting their bitterly divided country, they will have to lead by example.

Looking ahead, the EU will remain somewhat flexible, as it has from the start. What it will not tolerate are attempts by British politicians – Labour or Conservative – to settle domestic political disputes by dumping them onto European policymakers’ shoulders.

In this context, British requests to extend the Brexit negotiations should be assessed in good faith and granted if more time is needed to settle technical matters. But no extension can go beyond July 2, 2019, as that is when a new European Parliament will be seated, following an election in May that will be a battle for Europe’s soul. With populists in Hungary, Poland, and elsewhere campaigning against the EU’s foundational values, European politicians have much more than British domestic political squabbles to worry about.

As for the Remainers seeking to overturn the 2016 Brexit referendum, they should remember that the UK need not remain outside the EU forever. The current deal on the table would not prevent Britain from reapplying for membership, even during the transition period. To my mind, it is almost inevitable that some compelling young British politician will emerge one day to lead the UK back into the EU, where it belongs.

But for now, the clock is ticking, and those who will be the most adversely affected by Brexit – including British businesses, young people, Britons living in the EU, and EU citizens living in the UK – deserve an orderly withdrawal. Given that a chaotic countdown to a disastrous “no deal” Brexit – in which the UK crashes out of the EU single market and customs union – would poison UK-EU relations for decades to come, no responsible politician should even entertain the possibility.

It is time for British politicians to come out of their trenches and start talking. Only Britons can move their politics from adversarial zero-sum brinkmanship to constructive consensus-building. Such a change in the UK’s political culture is long overdue.

Full article on Project Syndicate

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