Having long ago decided that there was no point expecting anything sensible to emerge from Westminster Brexit-wise, Europe’s press greeted the inevitable third Commons defeat for Theresa May’s deal with a collective, if bitter, shrug.
“Season four of Brexiternity is now under way and will probably air next week,” said France’s Libération, breezily. “After three defeats, the PM is supposedly going to try a fourth time. Unreal? Unthinkable? Of course not. Uncertainty reigns, there is no plan B, and all options, more or less, remain open.”
Le Figaro did not spare the irony. “The day Britain was supposed to leave the EU, its parliament voted against the exit deal while thousands of demonstrators protested outside against the ‘treason’ of their politicians,” the paper said.
“And now? If the country has been in the grip of political chaos for months, the period that lies ahead looks set to attain hitherto unexplored heights of uncertainty. Unless a solution is found, Britain will crash out of EU without a deal on 12 April.”
The Irish Independent said classic comedy fans were now “running out of Brexit analogies”. Monty Python’s Black Knight and dead parrot had already been enlisted to portray Theresa May and her deal, the paper said, while Laurel and Hardy were sadly unavailable to do justice to Jacob Rees-Mogg and Boris Johnson.
“But the humour is becoming dark as the gallows of Brexit approaches,” it added. “All options have now been examined, and the inability of Britain’s parliamentary system to find any sort of resolution makes a mockery of their democracy.”
In Germany, Die Zeit said Britain was “in dire straits: parliament and government are at odds. If they do not agree within a few days, the country risks serious economic and political chaos, causing great suffering to future generations.”
The country has been “living from one deadline to the next for weeks, without a clear way out”, it said. “The people no longer know who rules them, or where their politics is taking them. There is not a Briton who is not shocked. Brexit has not made Britain stronger: it is in a sorry state.”
The fault was not all May’s, it added. “But she has led not in the national interest, but to preserve the popularity of the Conservative party … Not consensus, diplomacy and conviction, but stubborn self-interest,” it argued. Now the system has “one last chance” to avoid a disastrous no deal.
Belgium’s De Standaard said in an editorial that the deal’s third defeat showed how deeply Britain was now divided. “It was no real surprise,” the paper said. “Just the final proof that the British political system has been completely broken by Brexit. In essence, it added, there is “no majority to be found for any form of Brexit”.
Sweden’s Dagens Nyheter said that although “everything in Britain has revolved around Brexit” for what seems like for ever, the country “appears now to be back at square one. May’s agreement has been voted down for the third time. Almost anything can happen. It’s as if two years of political crisis have served for nothing.”
The Netherlands’ De Volkskrant said Brexit was now “in injury time”, while Corriere della Serra in Italy reckoned that the prime minister had “lost her bet”: her deal’s third defeat showed that her promise to resign if the agreement was passed “was worth nothing”. Brexit, the paper said, is now “reaching the final crossroad”.
Poland’s Gazeta Wyborcza said “weeks of negotiations, scary nightmare scenarios, and even the promise of her own resignation” had not helped May convince MPs to back the divorce agreement reached with Brussels. “What’s next with Brexit?” it asked. “Who knows?”
