‘Exaggerated, dangerous, indefensible’ Ex-euro judge eviscerates EU’s position on Brexit
A FORMER judge at the European Court of Justice has delivered an extraordinary verdict on Brussels’ attitude towards Brexit, accusing eurocrats of being “in denial” over the negotiations.
By NICK GUTTERIDGE, BRUSSELS CORRESPONDENT
Express.co.uk
Wed, May 31, 2017
Legal expert Franklin Dehousse described the EU’s wide-ranging demands on Britain as “exaggerated” and “dangerous” and warned they could scupper a future deal in a blistering intervention.
The Belgian national, who retired from the bench last October and has previously been involved in negotiating the bloc’s complex treaties, also warned Brussels against its plans to involve the ECJ extensively in the Brexit process.
In a piece for the respected Egmont Institute think tank he mocked eurocrats’ claims that Britain owes the club £85 billion in the form of a divorce fee and called their demands on citizens’ rights “hardly defendable”.
His comments mark a significant intervention in the Brexit process, coming from a europhile expert with intimate knowledge of the inner workings of Europe’s bureaucratic and legal processes.
And they demonstrate a growing concern that it is the EU’s implacable stance and unreasonable demands, and not Theresa May’s tough rhetoric, that are most likely to sink the prospect of a deal.
Professor Dehousse said that whilst it was initially the UK Government which had failed to grasp the enormous consequences of Brexit, he had observed “the same kind of denial now also appears on the EU side”.
The Rest…HERE
