by Mish
European Council chief, Donald Tusk is the fool of the day.
Please consider ‘Hard Brexit’ or No Brexit, Warns Donald Tusk.
Speaking at a conference in Brussels, Donald Tusk dashed the hopes of those hoping Britain could remain inside the EU’s single market or negotiate some special form of association. The tenor of the UK’s referendum campaign had been to “radically loosen relations with the EU, something that goes by the name of ‘hard Brexit’,” he said.
“In my opinion, the only real alternative to a hard Brexit is no Brexit,” Mr Tusk said. “Even if today hardly anyone believes in such a possibility.”
In remarks that are likely to infuriate prominent Brexiters in the British government, Mr Tusk set out a bleak picture for the negotiations to come between the UK and the rest of the EU, saying that there would be no winners, only losers. “This scenario will in the first instance be painful for Britons,” he said.
“The brutal truth is that Brexit will be a loss for all of us. There will be no cakes on the table for anyone. There will only be salt and vinegar.”
In stark terms, Mr Tusk said that it was “useless to speculate about soft Brexit”.
Mr Tusk also said he expected the exit talks to last considerably longer than the two years foreseen under the so-called Article 50 procedure in the EU’s treaties. “I think the process will be much longer than two years,” he said.
Spiteful Jackasses
The words “spiteful jackasses” do not do justice to fools who think the EU will in any way benefit from such idiocy.
The EU will lose heavily in a trade war. And this all-or-none approach will hugely damage EU exports and GDP at a time when Greece, Italy, are struggling mightily, and Spain has an immense budget problem.
Any further weakening in EU economies will play straight into the hands of Beppe Grillo’s Five Star Movement in Italy, Marine le Pen’s National Front party in France, and anti-immigration FPÖ candidate Norbert Hofer in Austria.
Insistence on salt and vinegar is downright asinine when you propose force feeding it to yourself.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
