The French President (pictured left in Greece today) and Donald Tusk (right) immediately shot down Theresa May's hopes of renegotiating Brexit tonight, insisting the deal on the table is already the 'best available'
Emmanuel Macron's (centre in Greece today) intervention comes as the EU appears set to rapidly kill off the Prime Minister's hopes of salvaging her two year negotiation
Speaking in Cyprus, Mr Macron said: 'As the European Council in December clearly indicated, the Withdrawal Agreement negotiated between the UK and EU is the best agreement possible.
'It is not renegotiable.'
Mr Macron called on Mrs May to present the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier with her next steps for avoiding a no-deal Brexit on March 29, which he said 'no-one wants, but ... we must all, despite everything, prepare for'.
Mrs May spoke to EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker this morning before vowing to her Brexiteer rebels she would push for a renegotiation.He is thought to have repeated the EU position there would be no renegotiation.
In a statement issued following the outcome of tonight's Westminster votes the Irish government said: 'The EU position on the Withdrawal Agreement, including the backstop, is set out in the conclusions of the December meeting of the European Council. It has not changed.' 'The Withdrawal Agreement is not open for re-negotiation.'
Earlier Manfred Weber, a senior MEP tipped to succeed Mr Juncker as European commission president, suggested Spain could make a new grab for Gibraltar and the £39billion divorce bill could be pushed up.She told the European Policy Centre think-tank: 'It is quite a challenge to see how you can construct from a diversity of the opposition a positive majority for the deal.'
She said there appeared to be a lack of 'ownership' in Britain of the agreement struck between the two sides in November, and that there was insufficient transparency in the prime minister's moves.
And Ms Weyand warned: 'There will be no more negotiations on the Withdrawal Agreement.'
The diplomat said some of the problems caused by opposition to the so-called 'Irish backstop' - designed to keep open the EU-UK land border on the island of Ireland - by changing some of its demands on post-Brexit trade.
'Where we do have margin is on the political declaration,' she said.Ms Weyand continued: 'We are open to alternative arrangements' on the Irish border, she told a conference. 'The problem with the Brady amendment is that it does not spell out what they are.
'It's not a criticism of them because they don't exist.'
However, she urged British lawmakers not to view the backstop, which would keep the UK in a customs arrangement with the EU until a better way is found to avoid checks on the Irish border, as pre-judging how a better trade deal may be struck:
'The backstop is not a prerequisite for the future relationship,' she said. 'We are open to alternative proposals.'
She also said if and when EU leaders discuss delaying Brexit by agreeing to extend negotiations, they 'will require certain elements of information... and one of them is the purpose of extension'.
'They would want to be reassured about that at the end of the extension there will be clarity,' she said. 'The idea of going into serial extensions is not very popular on the EU side.'
The French President (pictured left in Greece today) and Donald Tusk (right) immediately shot down Theresa May's hopes of renegotiating Brexit tonight, insisting the deal on the table is already the 'best available'
Emmanuel Macron's (centre in Greece today) intervention comes as the EU appears set to rapidly kill off the Prime Minister's hopes of salvaging her two year negotiationSpeaking in Cyprus, Mr Macron said: 'As the European Council in December clearly indicated, the Withdrawal Agreement negotiated between the UK and EU is the best agreement possible.'It is not renegotiable.'Mr Macron called on Mrs May to present the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier with her next steps for avoiding a no-deal Brexit on March 29, which he said 'no-one wants, but ... we must all, despite everything, prepare for'.Mrs May spoke to EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker this morning before vowing to her Brexiteer rebels she would push for a renegotiation.He is thought to have repeated the EU position there would be no renegotiation.In a statement issued following the outcome of tonight's Westminster votes the Irish government said: 'The EU position on the Withdrawal Agreement, including the backstop, is set out in the conclusions of the December meeting of the European Council. It has not changed.' 'The Withdrawal Agreement is not open for re-negotiation.'Earlier Manfred Weber, a senior MEP tipped to succeed Mr Juncker as European commission president, suggested Spain could make a new grab for Gibraltar and the £39billion divorce bill could be pushed up.She told the European Policy Centre think-tank: 'It is quite a challenge to see how you can construct from a diversity of the opposition a positive majority for the deal.'She said there appeared to be a lack of 'ownership' in Britain of the agreement struck between the two sides in November, and that there was insufficient transparency in the prime minister's moves.And Ms Weyand warned: 'There will be no more negotiations on the Withdrawal Agreement.'The diplomat said some of the problems caused by opposition to the so-called 'Irish backstop' - designed to keep open the EU-UK land border on the island of Ireland - by changing some of its demands on post-Brexit trade.'Where we do have margin is on the political declaration,' she said.Ms Weyand continued: 'We are open to alternative arrangements' on the Irish border, she told a conference. 'The problem with the Brady amendment is that it does not spell out what they are.'It's not a criticism of them because they don't exist.'However, she urged British lawmakers not to view the backstop, which would keep the UK in a customs arrangement with the EU until a better way is found to avoid checks on the Irish border, as pre-judging how a better trade deal may be struck:'The backstop is not a prerequisite for the future relationship,' she said. 'We are open to alternative proposals.'She also said if and when EU leaders discuss delaying Brexit by agreeing to extend negotiations, they 'will require certain elements of information... and one of them is the purpose of extension'.'They would want to be reassured about that at the end of the extension there will be clarity,' she said. 'The idea of going into serial extensions is not very popular on the EU side.'
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