Post by The TodalPost by MMMan, did he look unhappy. And worn out. No smirks from David Davis
last night. He looked as miserable as if someone had just told him of
a death in the family. He refused to say which way he had voted in the
confidence motion. But true to form, he perked up a bit later on and
carried on spinning the same old propaganda. Despite Tusk, Junker et
al in Brussels having categorically said there will be no further
negotiation, he insists negotiation is not over and that Brussels
always takes things to the wire. He even said they might delay giving
us what we want right up to the day before we leave!
Is he a complete idiot? What part of "no further negotiation" hasn't
he understood?
Of course there can be further negotiation. It's the essence of
negotiation in fact. Until a final deal is reached and signed off, it
hasn't been agreed regardless of what any of the parties may say. And
that's the current position; what we have is a DRAFT agreement,
nothing more.
If Parliament cannot vote in favour of the deal, then we have no deal.
And if the EU doesn't like the default consequence of that which is
that we crash out of the EU with no agreement in place, it will have
to negotiate further to get anything better. It has no other option.
It's a negotiation. It's how it works.
The way our Brexit negotiation works is, Theresa May pretends to our own
electorate that we actually have good cards in our hand, but she and the
EU know that she is negotiating from a position of extreme weakness.
I don't really think the fifth largest economy in the world ever argues
economic matters from a position of extreme weakness. Or at least it
shouldn't. May's concessions may give the opposite impression, but
that's down to the way she has misplayed our hand, and it's why we're in
the position we now are.
No-one should be allowed anywhere near a negotiation unless they've
completed Negotiation 101, or at least had instruction on the basics,
which May sadly seems not to have had.
We do actually have very good cards in our hand.
Post by The TodalShe's like Saddam Hussein pretending to have a huge arsenal of weapons
of mass destruction and claiming that she is ready for the mother of all
wars.
That, if true (which I don't think it is), would be naive rhetoric and
bluster from one who has never negotiated anything. Negotiations are
not wars. They are processes by which mutually beneficial agreements
are reached, and they are best reached perfectly amicably.
Post by The Todal“May wanted ‘legal and political assurances’,” said Germany’s Die Zeit.
“She got a five-point declaration on a single sheet of A4 whose
contents, if you look closely, are self-evident and nothing new to
anyone who knows anything about the withdrawal agreement.”
Well, yippee, but they won't get through the UK parliament, so they
don't help the EU either.
Post by The TodalThe paper’s commentator Matthias Krupa said it was hard to know whether
to admire May’s perseverance or pity her suffering. “Wherever she goes
on the continent, the message is the same,” he said. “We’re not giving
you anything. Or rather, we’ve already given you enough.”
Obviously not, though. Unless a deal can be got through the UK
parliament, there is no deal at all, and the EU will be damaged by that.
And there won't be a deal that gets through parliament unless the EU
shows greater flexibility.
Post by The TodalShe was certainly brave, Krupa said. “But bravery alone does not help.
For May and her country, Brexit has become a never-ending nightmare. For
the EU on the other hand, at the end of this wild week, it is a great
success. British politics is shattered into a myriad parts; the EU is
more united than ever.”
Unity doesn't butter any parsnips though.
This is the language of war again. And it's counterproductive if what
you're hoping to achieve is a mutually beneficial agreement.
Post by The TodalIn France, Le Monde said, “The exasperation is, at any rate, now
palpable. After 18 months of talks, Brexit fatigue has set in. Brussels
is fed up with British criticism of the backstop, particularly since it
was not imposed by EU negotiators but is the result of London’s choices.”
Anyone sensible knows that the only practical solution as regards
Ireland is a hard border such as exists everywhere else in the world
between different economic areas. It's a system that works and is
effective. It's probably also what the EU would have to establish to
protect its boundaries in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
Those who think some other solution may be possible are delusional. And
they will go mad perpetually trying to square this unsquareable circle.
They need to wake up and smell the coffee.