Brexit Draft: Cabinet votes now

After the British government has announced a breakthrough in negotiations on Brexit, the Cabinet must decide today on the draft exit agreement. The result: more than uncertain.

By Jens-Peter Marquardt, ARD Studio London

Theresa Mays' Brexit hard guys had already torn up the draft exit agreement even though they had not even seen it, let alone read it. Boris Johnson, the former foreign minister who left the cabinet in the summer to protest Mays Brexit's policy, said he would never vote for such an agreement in Parliament:

"For the first time in a thousand years, this Parliament will no longer dictate the laws that govern this country – an incredible state of affairs, accept the rules and regulations of Brussels without us having anything to say in the process – it is totally unacceptable to anyone who believes in democracy. "

Too close to the EU for hard

It is the fear of close adherence to the European Union, the at least temporary accession to the European Customs Union and probably also a partial accession to the internal market, which rebadures the Brexiters of the Conservative Party Theresa May even before the meeting of the Cabinet.

The Prime Minister rallied with reluctant ministers late in the evening, campaigning for the negotiators to negotiate the deal in Brussels. Whether she was able to convince her or not will be revealed before the afternoon, at the extraordinary session of the Council of Ministers, that there are other resignations.

Only the first step

The Cabinet is only an obstacle, the next one is already waiting in the lower house. The Conservatives do not have a majority there. In any case, May relies on the consent of the Protestants of Northern Ireland. But even they were stubborn before the Cabinet meeting. "If we already have a transition period that closely follows the EU, we must at least have the right to withdraw from it," said Sammy Wilson of the Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland (DUP). ).

The Irish question is crucial

UK payments to the EU budget, the rights of European citizens in the UK, all this has been ticked off for a long time. This is the question of the border on the Irish island that had hitherto prevented the agreement. The question of how to avoid a difficult border between customs and truck checks between the EU member Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Until now, the border was largely invisible: the free border movement between the two parts of the Irish island contributed to the peace process after the decades of turmoil in Northern Ireland. A close badociation with the EU, even in the future, should maintain this peace. However, many conservative Brexiters do not want to accept this close connection.

But EU-backing conservatives are also opposed to the deal. They prefer a new referendum to keep the country in the European Union. Finally, the opposition does not want to save the prime minister from his difficulties.

Resistance also from the Labor Party

Brexit Labor Party spokesman Keir Starmer said before the special session of the Cabinet: "Given the chaotic nature of these negotiations, it can not be a good deal for this country, and we have made it clear that if this agreement does not meet our requirements we will not vote for it. "

Whatever the results obtained by the Mays negotiators in Brussels, the Brexit agreement is far from over. One thing is clear: Britain will leave the EU on March 29th.