Pedro Sánchez maintains that withdrawal agreement is still best option for orderly Brexit

Brussels (Belgium)

Before holding the European Council (Article 50) on Brexit, European leaders held a meeting with the British Prime Minister, Theresa May, to whom they expressed the EU's intention to proceed with ratifying the Withdrawal Agreement and confirmed the common desire of the EU-27 not to re-open the agreement to any further negotiation process.

In turn, Theresa May explained the political situation in the United Kingdom at the Council and expressed the difficulties posed by the Irish border backstop for obtaining majority support for the agreement in the British Parliament. In this regard, the EU-27 said that the backstop is a security mechanism designed to avoid a hard border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, and that it would only be applied as a "last resort" in the event that agreements on a future relationship fail to avoid a hard border.

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, conveyed the Government of Spain's reticence to renegotiate the deal and this position was shared by a large majority of the European leaders. Pedro Sánchez believes that the text contains "a balance of concessions that was difficult to obtain" but a balance that "allows for an orderly Brexit" and re-opening it for one of the parties "would lead to adjustments in other sections of the deal, further complicating the process".

The EU-27 accept that the safeguard regarding the border with Northern Ireland is not a desirable result and that, if its application becomes necessary, it would be "temporary". The leaders thus reaffirm the EU's wish to "diligently negotiate without delay" an agreement for the future relationship with the United Kingdom that will make resorting to the backstop unnecessary, as already stated in the Withdrawal Agreement. The European leaders wished to make it absolutely clear that the conclusions adopted on Thursday are not a legal guarantee but rather a statement of political will to clarify certain aspects of the agreement and for that to facilitate ratification of the text by the British Parliament.

Furthermore, the Council calls for progress on contingency plans to cover "all possible scenarios".

Multiannual Financial Framework and EU foreign affairs

At the first session of the ordinary European Council, the European leaders discussed the schedule for adopting the Multiannual Financial Framework in order to move negotiations forward and reach an agreement no later than autumn 2019.

The President of the Government expressed the Government of Spain's wish to expedite the negotiation process as much as possible, setting spring 2019 as a deadline for having achieved "significant progress" on an outline that "provides certainty" before the European elections in May and therefore reach a final agreement in autumn. Pedro Sánchez said that Spain wants an "ambitious but realistic" Multiannual Financial Framework, considering that the European Budget "reflects the type of European Union we want to have". In particular, he insisted on the need to provide sufficient resources for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), maintaining the existing budget for the EU-27 in current terms. Furthermore, he argued that the co-financing percentages for rural development measures that the European Commission has proposed to reduce should be maintained.

The European leaders also addressed various issues related to EU foreign affairs, as well as the preparations for the first EU Summit with the Arab League on 24 and 25 February. They also expressed their concern over escalations in the Sea of Azov and the Russian violations of international law, reaffirming their commitment to the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of Ukraine. Furthermore, the Council called for the immediate release of the detained Ukrainian sailors.

At the session on Friday, the Council will adopt the rest of the conclusions on the Single Market, Climate Change, Security and Defence, disinformation, the fight against racism and xenophobia, and public consultations. The Euro Summit will also take place during lunch on Friday.

Non official translation