For Brussels, there’s a scenario worse than a no-deal Brexit — a deal that undermines the EU’s single market.
As new political tumult unfolded in London on Tuesday, senior EU officials and diplomats insisted they remain open to new proposals from the U.K. that might salvage an agreement. But they insisted even more strongly they would not blink if Prime Minister Boris Johnson forces them to choose between scrapping the “backstop” provision on the Ireland border or accepting the economic harm of a no-deal scenario.
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“There has been no change in our position on the matter,” the European Commission’s chief spokeswoman, Mina Andreeva, visibly exasperated, said at a news conference in response to a question about potential willingness to change or abandon the backstop provision.
Calling a no-deal departure “a very distinct possibility,” Andreeva said the Commission was still waiting for the British side to make proposals on alternatives to the backstop provision, which would similarly safeguard the integrity of the EU’s single market.
“I can’t report any concrete proposals having been made that we have seen,” she said, in reply to a question about whether there had been any new idea put forward from London. “We are not insisting now on having anything on paper,” Andreeva added hopefully. “It can be digital as well.”
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