Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator in the developing EU-UK withdrawal agreement, has said the UK will be able to apply to rejoin the EU after Brexit.
Speaking to a Catholic conference in Brussels, Barnier told delegates a no-deal Brexit would be a “leap in the dark” for the 3 million EU citizens living in the UK, as well as the 1.5 million British citizens currently living in EU Member States. If the UK leaves the union without formalising an EU-UK withdrawal agreement, the fates of these expats would be undetermined.
In response to a question from the audience about the EU’s potential reaction in the event of the UK deciding to remain in the EU, Barnier said: “If the U.K. changes its red lines, then we will adapt immediately. After [leaving the EU] it will be a third country, and like a third country it can ask to join the EU.”
Barnier said negotiations surrounding an EU-UK withdrawal agreement were coming to an end, but that the well-documented disputed over the Irish border and a potential customs union backstop still had not been resolved. He reiterated this point today on Belgian radio, telling RTBF listeners: “I am not, as I am speaking to you this morning, able to tell you that we are close to reaching an agreement, since there is still a real point of divergence on the way of guaranteeing peace in Ireland, that there are no borders in Ireland, while protecting the integrity of the single market.”
The theoretical establishment of a hard or soft border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, or alternatively Northern Ireland and the UK mainland, possibly while keeping Northern Ireland a member of the European customs union, has been a sticking point throughout the EU-UK withdrawal agreement negotiation process.
A poll carried out in the UK by Survation for Channel 4 found a swing of six per cent towards remaining in the UK in comparison to the results of the 2016 referendum. The survey asked 20,090 UK residents how they would vote if another Brexit vote were held tomorrow; 46 per cent said they would vote to leave the EU while 54 per cent said they would vote to remain.
