As UK Prime Minister Theresa May is on her way to Brussels to seek fresh concessions for the Brexit deal, European Commission Chief Jean-Claude Juncker has made it clear that the bloc is not willing to renegotiate the withdrawal agreement.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, who’s prone to trolling his counterparts, has made a somewhat frustrating confession about the job he’s doing during a Brussels press conference on Brexit.
When asked if he agreed with EU Council President Donald Tusk that there was a “special place in hell” for Brexiteers, Juncker came up with a witty response:
“I’m less Catholic than my good friend Donald. He strongly believes in heaven and by opposite in hell. I believe in heaven and I’ve never seen hell, apart from the time I was doing my job here. It’s hell”, he said with a chuckle
Juncker has stressed that the so-called Irish backstop plan in any Brexit deal was not subject to renegotiation.
“Brexit is not a bilateral question between the Republic of Ireland and the UK… It’s a European issue and that’s why we cannot accept the idea that the withdrawal agreement could be reopened”, he said.
Despite the EU’s hard-line stance on the Brexit deal, UK Prime Minister Theresa May is set to return to Brussels on Thursday seeking new concessions while meeting with Juncker and Tusk.