It has been confirmed today, Thursday, February 7, that the European Union (EU) will not reopen the withdrawal agreement. The withdrawal agreement on offer will remain as it stands.
The UK’s Prime Minister, Theresa May, met with the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, today in Brussels to discuss the possibility of amending the existing withdrawal agreement.
He said that the agreement represents “a carefully balanced compromise” between the EU and the UK in which “both sides have made significant concessions” to agree on a deal.
While stating that he would not reopen the withdrawal agreement, President Junker added that the EU would be open to “add wording” to the “political deceleration”.
The President of the European Commission believes that this would be “in order to be more ambitious in terms of content and speed when it comes to future relations between the EU and the UK”.
The statement explained that the two leaders agreed that both leaders’ teams should hold talks to help find a way to gain the broadest possible support for the deal in the UK Parliament while respecting the guidelines agreed on by the European Council.
Concluding, the statement said that Prime Minister May and President Junker will meet again before the end of February to “take stock” of the discussions.