The British parliament shambles has now taken to the skies. The talk between our genius politicians is this and beware this is NOT a Drill;
Now the talk is for an extension which for all intents and purposes is used as yet another “back stop” in the the EU until…wait…here it comes; until we negotiate another deal based on the future relationship with the EU. Really, I suspect the EU BREXIT team would ask with a smile “Really? When? Where? Why? How?” and I for one would humbly/respectfully nod cause I can’t bare to say “yes” considering how foolish that would sound – and that’s just the answering the first part of the question.
Now as some may know I’ve written plenty on the subject but what I need to reiterate here that the reason some Brexiteers are seeking a softer BREXIT is due to the simple reality that continues to excite us while approaching the end line – the reality is that there is indeed no end because it turns out there was no line – just a virtual moving object. I actually respect hardliners that are calling for hard BREXIT because at least they are true to their cause in terms of their views on the EU – however biased they may be – rather than softy Brexiteer’s who bash the EU one minute and yet want to have a “special” deal with it. Bias is OK of course and we all have them – so long as it does not translate to views that are divorced from reality or force others into that mini-view of the world. So my suggestion to the EU is this; if the EU is now being asked by the British government to extend article 50 as a backstop parking “lounge” until we come to a new proposition to re-negotiate the deal – which it most certainly is – I would suggest “No Dealer” for the following reasons;
- Wasted time/resources with the expectation of more waste with no guarantees when we’re merely continuing a flawed process from day 1 of triggering article 50. For this mess to be fixed a reset is necessary by reversing article 50 so that we can resolve this matter internally before planning future negotiations – and this nugget has to be resolved but I suspect this cannot happen with the existing leadership across parties in an utterly broken political system where cowboy politics and partisanship seems to be the order of the day. We should definitely revisit this matter but this is not the time and no extension will help without a change in guard and in politics.
- The EU cannot allow membership to continue as a convenience mechanism to sort the mess the of the British government – with little in the way of legitimacy – or any other member state. BREXIT is an internal matter for the UK to sort but they should do so while respecting the integrity of the EU which requires member states to continue their membership based on long term commitment to the European project and nothing else. So the recommendation has to be either “Stay” or “Leave” and it is decision time and not the time for half baked solutions for internal political convenience/consumption.
The EU needs to make a important judgement here about parameters if any for an extension of Article 50, and it is a consequential decision for the EU much as BREXIT is a consequential decision for the UK at least in the short-medium term.