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Apesar de ter ganho um pouco de oxigénio por um curto
periodo ( duas semanas ) e ter garantido uma aparente unidade no Partido
Conservador ... esta é uma victória de Pirro ...
A reacção da UE pode ser sintetizada nesta frase:
“If she comes with the same position as before,” the
official said, “she will get the same answer.”
OVOODOCORVO
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UK votes for Brexit renegotiation, Brussels says no
“If she comes with the same position as before,” the
official said, “she will get the same answer.”
House of Commons backs amendment requiring the Irish
backstop proposal to be replaced by ‘alternative arrangements.’
By CHARLIE
COOPER AND DAVID M. HERSZENHORN 1/29/19,
10:21 PM CET Updated 1/30/19, 8:16 AM CET
LONDON — Theresa May won backing from MPs to renegotiate her
Brexit deal with the EU — but faced an instant rejection from Brussels.
The House of Commons voted by 317 votes to 301 in favor of
an amendment requiring the most controversial aspect of the Brexit deal — the
Irish backstop proposal for avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland —
to be replaced by “alternative arrangements.”
In response to the votes in Westminster, the EU27 swiftly
squashed any hope of a renegotiation of the Brexit withdrawal treaty without a
more substantive revision of the U.K. red lines.
“This is our position, as coordinated with EU27 capitals,” a
spokesman for European Council President Donald Tusk said immediately after the
votes.
“We welcome and share the U.K. parliament's ambition to
avoid a no-deal scenario,” the spokesman, Preben Aamann, said. “We continue to
urge the U.K. government to clarify its intentions with respect to its next
steps as soon as possible.”
“If she comes with the same position as before she will get
the same answer" — Senior European Commission official
But he added: “The Withdrawal Agreement is and remains the
best and only way to ensure an orderly withdrawal of the United Kingdom from
the European Union. The backstop is part of the Withdrawal Agreement, and the
Withdrawal Agreement is not open for renegotiation. The December European
Council conclusions are very clear on this point.”
In the statement, Tusk's spokesman stressed the EU’s
long-standing willingness to rework the withdrawal treaty if the U.K. were to
fundamentally shift its positions on what it seeks in a future relationship.
The EU has long said that London’s red lines make only a free-trade agreement
possible, while under a different framework the U.K. could remain in the EU’s
single market, its customs union or both.
“If the U.K.'s
intentions for the future partnership were to evolve, the EU would be prepared
to reconsider its offer and adjust the content and the level of ambition of the
political declaration, whilst respecting its established principles,” Aamann
said.
The EU also expressed willingness to extend the March 29
deadline for the U.K.’s withdrawal.
“Should there be a U.K. reasoned request for an extension,
the EU27 would stand ready to consider it and decide by unanimity,” he said.
“The EU27 will adopt this decision, taking into account the reasons for and
duration of a possible extension, as well as the need to ensure the functioning
of the EU institutions. We will continue our preparations for all outcomes,
including a no-deal scenario. We will also continue the EU's process of
ratification of the agreement reached with the U.K. government. President Tusk
will stay in close contact with EU27 leaders.”
Earlier on Tuesday, a senior European Commission official
said that if May returns to Brussels with nothing new, she would find herself
flatly rebuffed.
“If she comes with the same position as before,” the
official said, “she will get the same answer.”
MPs also rejected a plan, backed by opposition parties, that
would have given the House of Commons the opportunity to delay Brexit. However,
they did back a non-binding amendment rejecting the prospect of a no-deal
Brexit.
A proposal put down by Labour MP Yvette Cooper that aimed to
force the government to delay Brexit day was backed by 298 MPs with 321 voting
against — a deficit of 23.
The amendment, which was opposed by the government, would
have carved out parliamentary time for legislation requiring the government to
ask for an extension to Article 50 if no Brexit deal is approved by MPs by
February 26. All EU27 leaders would have had to agree unanimously to such an
extension.
May’s government has pledged to bring back the vote on the
deal “as soon as possible” but has not set a date.
MPs did vote for an amendment to simply "reject"
the U.K. leaving the EU without a deal. The amendment from former Conservative
minister Caroline Spelman was backed by 318 MPs with 310 against — a majority
of eight. The vote is non-binding, so does not rule out no-deal and there is no
obligation for the government to act.
Following the votes, May said the results had shown there
was a majority of MPs who “would support a deal with changes to the backstop,”
adding that she would now “seek to obtain legally binding changes to the
Withdrawal Agreement.”
However, at a meeting before the votes were held, Brexiteer
MPs made clear that their endorsement of the backstop amendment — put forward
by senior backbencher Graham Brady — did not necessarily mean they would back
May’s deal when it returns for a second attempt at a ratification vote.
May’s government has pledged to bring back the vote on the
deal “as soon as possible” but has not set a date. If no deal has been reached
by February 13, MPs will be given another opportunity to debate Brexit the
following day.
Responding to the results, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said
he would meet May to discuss the way forward — an option he rejected when her
deal was defeated earlier this month.
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Brexit: May goes back to Brussels but EU says nothing has
changed
MPs pass amendment pledging to replace Irish backstop with
‘alternative arrangements’
Heather Stewart and Daniel Boffey
Tue 29 Jan 2019 22.15 GMT Last modified on Wed 30 Jan 2019
07.14 GMT
Theresa May was handed a two-week deadline to resuscitate
her Brexit deal last night after she caved to Tory Eurosceptics and pledged to
go back to Brussels to demand changes to the Irish backstop.
With just 59 days to go until exit day, MPs narrowly passed
a government-backed amendment, tabled by the senior Conservative Graham Brady,
promising to replace the Irish backstop with unspecified “alternative
arrangements”.
But within minutes of the Commons result, the European
council president, Donald Tusk, announced that the EU was not prepared to
reopen the deal.
“The withdrawal
agreement is, and remains, the best and only way to ensure an orderly
withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union,” a spokesman for Tusk
said. “The backstop is part of the withdrawal agreement, and the withdrawal
agreement is not open for renegotiation.”
Leo Varadkar, the Irish taoiseach, said the EU needed to
“hold our nerve”.
On a dramatic day in Westminster the House of Commons also
served notice that it would not support the government if it pursued a no-deal
Brexit, undermining what May regards as one of her key bargaining chips in the
days ahead.
However, May said: “It is now clear that there is a route
that can secure a substantial and sustainable majority in this house for
leaving the EU, with a deal.”
She repeatedly stressed protections for workers’ rights, as
well as mooting changes to the backstop in the hope of winning over Labour MPs,
and promised to keep “battling for Britain”.
The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, said he would meet the
prime minister after the amendment against no-deal Brexit was passed. He had
previously declined her invitation to talks until a no deal was taken off the
table.
May assured MPs she would try to bring back a renegotiated
deal for parliament to approve, in a “meaningful vote”, as soon as possible. If
she has not managed to do so by 13 February, the government will table a
statement about what it plans to do next and allow MPs to vote on it on
Valentine’s Day.
The government saw off a series of attempts by backbenchers
to seize control of business in parliament to avert a no deal. Fourteen Labour
rebels helped May to defeat Yvette Cooper’s attempt to timetable a bill that
would mandate the government to extend article 50.
But MPs narrowly passed a more straightforward amendment,
tabled by Labour’s Jack Dromey and the Conservative Caroline Spelman, saying
they would not accept a no deal outcome, by 318 votes to 310.
May had repeatedly insisted the 585-page withdrawal
agreement signed off by EU leaders at a special summit in November was not open
for renegotiation. But she urged her own backbenchers to support an amendment
rejecting the hardest-fought aspect of the deal: the Irish backstop.
Tabled by Brady, the amendment was passed by 317 votes to
301, a majority of 16. May had earlier said a victory would “send a clear
message to Brussels about what the house wants to see changing in the
withdrawal agreement in order to be able to support it”.
Officials in Brussels suggested even before the Brady
amendment had been passed that reopening the withdrawal agreement was
impossible. Some Tory backbenchers said May had been “played” by rightwingers
in her party who made clear they reserved the right to vote against her in a
fortnight’s time, even if she secured changes.
Steve Baker, the deputy chair of the backbench European
Research Group (ERG), announcing that its members would vote for the Brady
amendment, made clear they could still reject any renegotiated deal she brought
back. “A vote for the Brady amendment is a vote to see if the PM can land a
deal that will work. If not then we are not committed,” he said.
The prime minister spoke to European commission president,
Jean-Claude Juncker, by phone to set out her intentions before MPs began
debating seven amendments that pursued a series of objectives.
May firmly rejected a pair of proposals aimed at giving MPs
the opportunity to steer the next stage of the Brexit process, one tabled by
Cooper and Nick Boles, and another by the former attorney general Dominic
Grieve.
She said they would, “seek to create and exploit mechanisms
that would allow parliament to usurp the proper role of the executive”, saying
both approaches were “deeply misguided, and not a responsible course of
action”. Both were rejected, Grieve by a majority of 20, and Cooper by 23.
May said she could seek changes to the backstop including a
time limit, a unilateral exit clause, or an alternative plan put forward by an
unlikely group of Tory MPs, including Jacob Rees-Mogg and the former education
secretary Nicky Morgan.
“What I’m talking about is not a further exchange of
letters, but a significant and legally binding change to the withdrawal
agreement,” May said. “Negotiating such a change will not be easy. It will
involve reopening the withdrawal agreement, a move for which I know there is
limited appetite among our European partners.”
May’s cabinet had earlier cautiously welcomed the so-called
Malthouse compromise, named after the housing minister who brokered it, with
Michael Gove particularly enthusiastic, according to Tory sources, while Greg
Clark struck a sceptical note.
It includes resurrecting plans for border checks to be
avoided through the use of technology, long favoured by Brexiters including
Boris Johnson. But all of the “alternative arrangements” mooted in the course
of the debate had already been flatly rejected by EU negotiators.
Privately, some ministers were dismissive, with one cabinet
source saying: “I’m trying not to say the word ‘unicorn’.”
But the prime minister warded off threats of a revolt from
remainer ministers, who had threatened to back the Cooper-Boles amendment, by
promising parliament another chance to vote on the government’s Brexit policy
in February. A government source said: “It’s one last push; it’s a chance to
lance the boil of ‘we haven’t tried hard enough’.”
As well as attempting to revisit the controversial backstop,
May stressed that she will continue discussions with trade unions and Labour
MPs about how the government can offer more assurances on workers’ rights, including
potentially through legislation.
The shadow Brexit secretary, Keir Starmer, accused the prime
minister of pursuing an impossible deal with Brussels in an attempt to assuage
the demands of rebels on her own backbenches. “The danger is obvious – that the
prime minister today may build a temporary sense of unity on her own benches,
but in reality she’s raising expectations that she can never fulfil,” he said.
Jeremy Corbyn had earlier claimed the real “obstacle to a
solution” was May and her government. Labour tabled its own amendment calling
for MPs to be allowed to vote on options, including Corbyn’s Brexit policy, and
a “public vote”. It was defeated by 296 votes to 327.
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