Ailing EU economy will revive Brexit talks, UK trade minister says
The British trade minister Liam Fox believes that Brussels is more likely to entertain reopening talks with Theresa May now that eurozone countries are seeing their economies begin to slow down.
In an interview on BBC Radio on Tuesday, the British trade minister Liam Fox said that the EU may consider renegotiating Brexit to avoid a no-deal scenario now that major eurozone economies like Germany and France are beginning to show signs of slowing down.
‘I think there have been some changes in the positions in recent times, dictated by reality,’ Fox told the BBC.
’We’ve seen, for example, the German economy weakening, we’ve seen the French economy weakening, and I think this view that ‘we can simply weather out any disturbance that would occur from a no deal’, I think there’s much less appetite for that.’
Germany sees second referendum on the horizon
While Fox is holding out hope that ailing eurozone economies will spur Brussels to reopen Brexit talks, the German justice minister Katarina Barley thinks that a second referendum is looking like the most likely route forward.
In an interview with German broadcaster SWR on Tuesday, the German justice minister said that British MPs, who will convene later today to discuss the future of Brexit, will likely look to extend Article 50, adding that a second referendum looks ‘more likely with every day’.
End Irish backstop to avoid no-deal Brexit, Theresa May tells Brussels
On Tuesday, the British prime minister Theresa May is set to ask Conservative MPs to tell officials in Brussels that they will back her Brexit deal so long as the Irish backstop is replaced.
The Irish backstop remains key concern for many pro-Brexit MPs, with Conservative lawmaker Graham Brady proposing an amendment to remove the plan and replace it with ‘alternative arrangements’.
The EU has repeatedly said that it will not reopen Brexit talks until British lawmakers provide clarity over what they actually want, with May hoping that she can unite her party around an amendment to replace the controversial Irish backstop and get her deal through the House of Commons.
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