The European Council president has said that UK only real choice to a “hard Brexit” or clean bexit from the EU is to continue to be a full member of the bloc.
Speaking at a conference in Brussels, Donald Tusk squashed the hopes of those thinking Britain could remain inside the EU’s single market or tabled some special kind of association. The mandate of the UK’s referendum publicity had been to “radically cut relations with the EU, something that goes by the name of ‘hard Brexit’,” he said.
“In my opinion, the only real alternative to a hard Brexit is no Brexit,” Mr Tusk disclosed. “Even if today hardly anyone believes in such a possibility.”
Inasmuch as Theresa May, UK prime minister, proposed London would opt for a clean brexit from membership of the single market in her party conference statement this month, the pound has been badly affect on foreign exchange markets as investors worry about the economic implications.
In statements that may likely anger prominent Brexiters in the British government, Mr Tusk lay out a blurr picture for the negotiations to come between the UK and the remiander of EU, saying that nobody would be winners, only losers. “This scenario will in the first instance be painful for Britons,” he said.
Quoting UK foreign secretary Boris Johnson’s campaign movement claim that a post-Brexit Britain would “have the EU cake and eat it too”, Mr Tusk stated: “The crude truth is that Brexit will be a loss for all of us. There will be no cakes on the table for anyone. There will only be salt and vinegar … The words uttered by one of the leading campaigners for Brexit …[were] pure illusion.”
Attending to questions after the statement, Mr Tusk extended a peace deal branch to London, stating that he had not seen a single leader on the continent “who is happy with this result of the British referendum”.
He stated he was “absolutely sure” that “in the future, if we have a chance to reverse this negative process, we will find allies, I have no doubt”.