Geert Bourgeois continues to hope for a Brexit agreement: “Negotiate to the last second”

“I hope there will be another final offensive.” MEP Geert Bourgeois pleaded once again on the radio programme Andermaal for pragmatism and flexibility now that the Brexit negotiations are entering a crucial phase. An agreement between the European Union and the United Kingdom is not yet in sight. According to Geert Bourgeois, 1.2 million European jobs are under threat from a no-deal. “I want to keep trying to reach an agreement until the very last second.”

Plea for reasonableness and flexibility

Both the EU and the British must be flexible, Geert Bourgeois says. “If the British continue to play it ideologically and keep talking about sovereignty, but on the other hand, want zero rates, then they need to know that there are conditions attached to that. On the other hand, the EU must recognise that the British want to regain their sovereignty and cannot demand that the British simply adopt every EU rule in the future. We must come to good, enforceable agreements.”

If no agreement is reached, Geert Bourgeois hopes for an extension in the form of emergency measures. He does stress that reciprocity remains important in that scenario, too.