EXCLUSIVE - NOT ONLY AN EXTENSION, BUT A STRAITJACKET TOO

May commits UK to extraordinary EU control, using prerogative powers

© Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2019

The UK is now powerless in the EU

Readers will know by now that the “EU agrees to another extension”, to quote the BBC’s headline today.

Indeed the BBC’s Europe Editor Katya Adler says:

“In the summit conclusions there is no evidence of the punitive safeguards mooted to ensure the UK ‘behaves itself’ - refraining from blocking EU decisions - as long as it remains a club member.”

The BBC is 100% wrong

It’s 03.30am and Brexit Facts4EU.Org has examined the statement from the EU Council, as well as the “Legal Act : EUROPEAN COUNCIL DECISION taken in agreement with the United Kingdom extending the period under Article 50(3)TEU”

All media coverage we have seen up to this point has missed three essential and shocking points :-

Brexit Facts4EU.org Summary

  1. Mrs May has agreed that the UK will do what the EU tells it to
  2. New 'deal' only specifies that the UK can leave earlier than 31 Oct if it ratifies the Withdrawal Agreement
  3. Mrs May has already committed the UK to this deal, whatever MPs might say about it today

1. May agrees that the UK can do nothing against what the EU wants

Quite extraordinarily, the Prime Minister has agreed to stringent conditions from the EU, completely constraining it from voting the way it wants to on all EU business.

“…the United Kingdom shall facilitate the achievement of the Union’s tasks and shall refrain from any measure which could jeopardise the attainment of the Union’s objectives, in particular when participating in the decision-making processes of the Union.”

[Source: Legal Act : EUROPEAN COUNCIL DECISION taken in agreement with the United Kingdom extending the period under Article 50(3)TEU ]

The above has the effect of removing the UK’s effective decision-making powers to act in its own interests. We believe this to be completely unlawful under the Treaties. That said, this has never stopped the EU before. A legal decision of Council, as expressed last night, will trump the Treaties from a political standpoint based on our experience of the EU, no matter the legal position.

The legal document, agreed by Mrs May, goes on to say :-

“This extension excludes any re-opening of the Withdrawal Agreement. Any unilateral commitment, statement or other act by the United Kingdom should be compatible with the letter and the spirit of the Withdrawal Agreement, and must not hamper its implementation. Such an extension cannot be used to start negotiations on the future relationship.”

[Source: Legal Act : EUROPEAN COUNCIL DECISION taken in agreement with the United Kingdom extending the period under Article 50(3)TEU ]

The above stops the UK from undertaking any “unilateral commitment, statement or other act by the United Kingdom” which goes against “the letter and the spirit” of the Withdrawal Agreement. Words fail us.

2. The only ‘early get out’ is if the UK ratifies May’s surrender treaty

A key aspect of this appalling deal is whether the UK can exit the EU earlier than 31 October. The only condition of exit in the EU’s Legal Act is if the UK ratifies the Withdrawal Agreement.

Here is what the document says :-

“The European Council also recalled that, under Article 50(3) TEU, the Withdrawal Agreement may enter into force on an earlier date, should the Parties complete their respective ratification procedures before 31 October 2019. Consequently, the withdrawal should take place on the first day of the month following the completion of the ratification procedures or on 1 November 2019, whichever is the earliest.”

[Source: Legal Act : EUROPEAN COUNCIL DECISION taken in agreement with the United Kingdom extending the period under Article 50(3)TEU

There is no mention of the UK being able to exit the EU before 31 October on any other basis, other than it exiting automatically if it fails to hold elections to the EU Parliament. This, however, is something which the Government put in place by law yesterday.

What if the UK Parliament finally decides to honour the Referendum result and wishes to exit on WTO terms? This is not allowed for in the agreement to which Mrs May has signed us up. And she has signed it – see below.

3. May has already committed the UK to this, in writing last night

Equally extraordinarily, Mrs May has already committed the UK to her late night agreement in Brussels.

“…as set out in the letter from the Permanent Representative of the UK to the European Union, Sir Tim Barrow of 11 April 2019, it has agreed, in accordance with Article 50(3) TEU, to the extension of the period referred to in that Article and to this decision”

[Source: Legal Act : EUROPEAN COUNCIL DECISION taken in agreement with the United Kingdom extending the period under Article 50(3)TEU

In the early hours of this morning, the UK’s Ambassador to the EU delivered a letter to the EU Council, accepting this appalling surrender. In effect, Theresa May has already committed the UK, using prerogative powers. You can read this letter here.

It matters not what MPs might have to say about this. The evil deed is done. Why did she have to do this in the early hours of the morning?

IMPORTANT NOTE: We are not lawyers, even though we have some significant experience of reading the EU's legal or quasi-legal announcements over several years. We have sought legal clarification from Lawyers for Britain and from other Counsel, and are awaiting their opinion on what we have written above. We will revise if necessary, although we don't expect that we will have to.

UPDATE: Lawyers for Britain have said that this new agreement does not change the UK's power of veto under the Treaties. Technically this may be true, but politically we still believe that what Mrs May agreed to will impose severe political restrictions on what the UK can and can't do over the next six months. Let's just say that we doubt that the UK's veto will be exercised on any EU decision.

Observations

Theresa May

We have criticised Mrs May from the start of her campaign to become Prime Minister – something which initially lost us a lot of readers. Fortunately many came back as our concerns were borne out by her actions.

As recently as last Sunday we wrote :-

“We now consider Theresa May to be a clear and present danger to the social, political, and constitutional fabric of the United Kingdom. She must go. Now.”

Today we must go one step further. We believe her to be mentally unfit to govern.

The BBC

Either the BBC’s Europe Editor is incompetent, or she is deliberately misleading the British public. For her to state that “there is no evidence of the punitive safeguards mooted to ensure the UK ‘behaves itself’ - refraining from blocking EU decisions - as long as it remains a club member” – is demonstrably wrong.

Credit: BBC website 2019

It seems Ms Adler completely failed to look at the important document – the Legal Act. Any responsible journalist covering the EU knows that it’s what is in the legal texts that matters. If she didn’t see that text when she wrote her piece, she should have refrained from commenting, knowing full well that constraints on the UK were highly likely.

The BBC is wrong on a fundamental point regarding the future of our country. So wrong that we are forced to ask why on earth this organisation should continue to extract money each year (under legal powers) from the British people.

Finally, if you value the information we have given you above, please donate to keep us informing you like this.

[ Sources : EU Council | UK Government ]

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, 11 Apr 2019

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