The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier has said the risk of no deal has never been greater, a day after the agreement he helped agree with UK Prime Minister Theresa May was voted down by British lawmakers.
“We are in a very grave moment, because the risk of no deal has never been so elevated, with no deal in a disorderly manner,” Barnier told EU lawmakers in Strasbourg, adding that while it was a scenario the EU had not worked toward, they were ready to face that possibility.
The mood among European lawmakers is a collective folding of arms following Tuesday night’s vote in parliament. And Barnier made clear that Brussels feels it has done all it can and it’s now up to London to sort this mess out.
“It is up to the UK to find a way out of the stalemate regarding Brexit,” Barnier said, to a round of applause.
“I want to remind a fact. If the UK wants to still leave the EU in a ordered manner, then this treaty that we have negotiated with the UK with Theresa May government, this treaty is and remains the only available treaty and I want this to be well understood,” he said, waving papers in the air.