Geert Bourgeois is satisfied with the latest Brexit vote: “Postponement is great, revocation even better”

14 March 2019

Flemish Minister-President Geert Bourgeois welcomes the vote by the British House of Commons to give Theresa May a mandate to request an extension to the deadline of Article 50 past 29 March. “I continue to hope that the British will ultimately turn away from Brexit and that postponement leads to revocation. In any case a postponement has to be linked to a proposal by the British. It is in the interests of our companies, our citizens and our prosperity that there should be clarity,” says Geert Bourgeois.

The Minister-President is open to an extension to 30 June, or possibly a longer period, subject to conditions. Certainly for an extension past 30 June, the British government will have to shift at least one of its red lines, so that for example a customs union becomes possible.

Protecting Flemish prosperity

Geert Bourgeois in any case wants everything possible to be done to protect Flemish jobs and Flemish prosperity. “We must be fully conscious of the fact that in each of the scenarios a no-deal remains possible, as a result of which according to the KU Leuven no fewer than 28,000 Flemish jobs and no less than 2.6% of GDP The gross domestic product (GDP) is the total monetary value of all goods and services produced within a country, both by companies and the government. This term is usually used as a benchmark for a country’s prosperity. This is why the N-VA closely follows the evolution of the Belgian GDP. GDP are in peril. For this reason, I am urgently asking the European leaders to demand clarity from the United Kingdom without falling into a logic of punishment,” Geert Bourgeois concludes.

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