Following the European Council. Statement by MEP Martina ANDERSON (GUE/NGL, UK) on the Council's decision to extend the date for the Brexit

Brussels

ANDERSON, Martina (GUE/NGL, UK)

meeting of the European Council

European Council meeting 21-22 March 2019 (T)

European Council: statement by Martina ANDERSON (GUE/NGL, UK) following the Council's decision to extend the date for the Brexit

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/10862003/I170043Chapters%5BSD-EN%5D.srt

SOUNDBITE (English), Martina ANDERSON (GUE/NGL, UK), We are eight days away from the deadline, and we all hope that there will be certainty at this time. Unfortunately, that is not the case. From our understanding, there will be an extension up to the 22 /05, pre requiring that there will be an agreement next week in the House of Commons, the House of Chaos as it has been named recently. So who knows&hellip; is not what we all want to hear, but the day before the deadline , if the House of Commons does not support this, we could be back here, this time, next week.

What we understand is that there will be a condition put on the extension, will be an extension providing the House of Commons agrees to the Withdrawal agreement and the backstop contained within that withdrawal agreement. So it&rsquo;s all on to the House of Commons, we and Sinn F&eacute;in, the Irish delegation , has been trying to insure that we maintain the international solidarity to uphold the Good Friday Agreement and all its parts.

SOUNDBITE (English), Martina ANDERSON (GUE/NGL, UK), Whether is a log extension or a long extension, there are two things that need to be taken into account: one is the people of the North of Ireland, the Irish citizens, are EU right holders and are entitle to vote in the European elections ; and two there is a prevision in the Good Friday agreement that provide a solution to this maybe problem for some people around the backstop, and that the trigger of the Unity pool , an Irish Unity is the solution to the Brexit mess.