Geert Bourgeois maintains hope that Brexit will be revoked

“My absolute preference is that they go back to square one. That they say: we are not going to divorce, we are going to revoke it and stay with you.” Flemish Minister-President Geert Bourgeois reacts with relief to the rejection of a no-deal by the British House of Commons. He calls on the British to revoke Brexit. If they nevertheless continue, he hopes that the British will go for a status such as that of Turkey. Just yesterday, the Minister-President called for at least a customs union with the United Kingdom. “It is unthinkable that after 30 March it would be less easy for us to carry out trade with the United Kingdom than with Turkey. With a customs union, they have pretty much everything they want,” Geert Bourgeois said to Radio 1.

Prosperity and jobs

Minister-President Bourgeois is above all happy that the British have voted out a no-deal. “No deal is a bad deal: the worst scenario for them, but also for the EU and certainly also for Flanders. Then we lose an enormous amount of prosperity and jobs,” Geert Bourgeois said. He is now hoping for a revocation of Brexit and if not, a postponement. “In this regard, a new referendum or elections can take place. Because I think that public opinion, and certainly the young people in the UK, is gradually starting to understand what enormously serious consequences Brexit brings with it. And then it’s just a question of hoping that they turn back following a new referendum or elections.”