The EU: where votes don't count if they turn out wrong
The EU high court tells Britain that they can universally reverse the Brexit vote. Why, because the stupid people voted the wrong way.
The European Union’s highest court ruled Monday that Britain could unilaterally reverse its decision to split from the 28-nation political bloc, a verdict that gave a boost to anti-Brexit campaigners.
The decision, which came a day before the British Parliament was scheduled to vote on Prime Minister Theresa May’s deeply unpopular Brexit deal, made clear that Britain has the ability to reverse itself any time before the March 29 deadline to leave the European Union. A legal question had arisen about whether a reversal would require the consent of the other 27 E.U. members, but the binding decision made clear that little stands in London’s way — should it want to return to the E.U. fold.
“The United Kingdom is free to revoke unilaterally the notification of its intention to withdraw from the E.U.,” the European Court of Justice said in its announcement.
The court ruling added to the tumult surrounding the Brexit deal, which has attracted little support from Britain’s warring political factions. The British Parliament was scheduled to vote on the deal Tuesday ahead of a summit of E.U. leaders in Brussels later this week, but reports swirled in London on Monday that May would pull the plug on the vote, presumably to try to win more concessions from the European Union.
The deal, which was unveiled last month and obeys the red lines set out by May and E.U. negotiators, has attracted little support in Britain. Pro-Brexit hard-liners say it keeps their country unacceptably entangled inside the E.U. market. Pro-E.U. campaigners say it would inflict major harm on the British economy and strip Britain’s voice in European decision-making while offering little benefit to the country.