The European Union will not agree to a new extension of Brexit. That is what French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on the French radio channel Europe 1 on Sunday.
“The EU is not going to postpone every three months,” said Le Drian. “The British must tell us what they actually want.”
The British House of Commons voted on Wednesday for a motion that prohibits a ‘no-deal Brexit’ and that instructs British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to request an extension of the Brexit deadline. The current deadline is 31 October 2019, but due to the possible postponement this would be 31 January 2020.
In addition to the opposition parties, 21 members of the Johnson party, the Conservatives, voted in favor of the motion. Johnson put these members out of the party. The same day he lost his majority in Parliament, when a member of the Conservatives went over to the Liberal Democrats.
The House of Lords also voted against the motion ‘no deal’ on Friday, so that it will be sent to the queen on Monday to be signed. However, Johnson does not want to ask for a delay. On Thursday he said he would rather “lie dead in a ditch”.
British finance minister Sajid Javid announced on Sunday that Johnson will not ask for an extension at an EU summit next month, but will try to make a new deal.
The Johnson government is calling for early elections to determine whether he or opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn should “go to Brussels to clean up the mess.” However, the motion for these elections did not get enough votes. The opposition only wants new elections after the law against the ‘no deal’ Brexit has been passed.
As a result of Johnson’s Brexit course, two more members of the Conservatives left. The Prime Minister’s brother, State Secretary Jo Johnson, left the party together with Employment Minister Amber Rudd.
Rudd is succeeded by Therese Coffey, the Conservative Party announced on Sunday.
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