The European Union (EU) warns fractious British politicians they won't get a better Brexit deal than the one brought home by Prime Minister Theresa May on Sunday.
The 27 member-nation blocs said the package agreed with May is the "best possible" Brexit deal, and urged the British public to support May in her campaign to get it through a hostile Parliament. That hostility was vividly present on Monday when MP after MP, including those from May's own Conservative Party, rose to lambast the deal no end.
"Those who think that, by rejecting the deal, they would get a better deal will be disappointed," declared European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
He issued this stern warning after EU leaders formally endorsed a treaty setting terms for the UK's withdrawal from the EU on March 29, 2019, and an outline of a future EU-UK trade pact.
EU leaders took barely half an hour to approve the 585-page withdrawal treaty. This paper aims at an orderly British exit on March 29, to be followed by two to three years of a status-quo transition period. British critics of this deal say the meager outline of a future trading and security partnership will leave Britain tied to EU regulations it will no longer have any influence in the setting.
As to whether there is any chance the EU will reopen talks if anti-Brexit forces defeat the deal in the British parliament, Juncker again declared "this is the best deal possible
"There is no Plan B," said Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. "If anyone thinks in the United Kingdom that by voting No something better would come out of it, they are wrong."
The only that might be considered a Plan B in sight is a possible no-deal scenario where Britain formally leaves the EU on March 29 and plunges into legal limbo, roiling Europe's economy, said a senior EU official.
On the other hand, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite spoke of several scenarios if the British Parliament blocks the package. These are the British holding a second referendum; holding a new election to replace May or returning to Brussels to try and renegotiate the package. The latter seems to be a non-starter given Juncker's earlier warning.
European Council President Donald Tusk said the EU is determined to have as close as possible a partnership with Britain, which has long been skeptical about EU integration: "We will remain friends until the end of days. And one day longer," he said.
