London: The European Parliaments chief Brexit negotiator rubbished British Prime Minister Theresa Mays pledge to deliver a new EU trade deal by 2019 as “impossible”, a media report said.
Guy Verhofstadt also suggested the British people voted to leave the EU because of a Little Englander mentality. Yet he held out the prospect that Britain could choose to rejoin the bloc one day, saying, “That is always possible”, the Independent reported on Friday.
In her Brexit speech earlier in January, the Prime Minister threatened to crash out of the EU with “no deal” if other leaders refused her demands.
However, a day later, May told MPs that she would “deliver” an agreement by Brexit, to avoid inflicting punishing World Trade Organisation tariffs on businesses.
“That’s what I’m committed to – and that’s what this Government is going to deliver,” she said, raising the stakes for the negotiations to come.
But Verhofstadt, a senior Member of European Parliament and former Belgian Prime Minister, dismissed the prospect, in an interview with Al Jazeera English on Friday. “That’s technically impossible,” he said, referring to the suggested two-year timeline.
Verhofstadt also sought to emphasise that the rest of the EU would not be looking to punish Britain in the negotiations.–IANS
