Sánchez to Theresa May: “You need a clear plan before we agree Brexit extension”

“You can’t go forward by going around in circles; that’s not the solution,” Sánchez said.

He stressed that Mrs May’s deal is the ‘best possible’ and the ‘only viable option’ if the UK wants to leave the European Union and that no better deal is available if Brexit proceeds, but stressed that Spain will ‘always provide constructive solutions’ to promote ‘an orderly exit’ from the EU.

If the deal, which has been voted down twice, does not get through Parliament within the next nine days, the UK wants an extension to Article 50 so as to avoid crashing out without a deal, which experts say would be disastrous for Britain and cause financial loss to its trading partners in the EU.

Spain will ‘listen to the UK’s proposals’, says Sánchez, but has made it clear that if Mrs May wants an extension, she ‘needs to make it clear what it is for and for how long’.

She was expecting to ask the Council of Europe – made up of the national leaders of all 28 countries, including herself – for a three-month ‘technical extension’ if her deal had been approved by UK Parliament, or longer if it had not.

The British prime minister wanted a third vote on her deal before the European Union leaders’ summit, due this Thursday, but Parliament will not agree to a further vote unless there are changes in the deal.

And the EU has refused to agree any changes.

Sánchez supports this view, saying the deal is ‘the best possible’ and ‘will not be touched’.

He says he will be travelling to Brussels this week ‘fully prepared to listen’ to whatever Mrs May proposes, but has admitted that a no-deal Brexit is ‘looking like a very real possibility’, even though the UK Parliament narrowly voted against this ever happening.

For an extension to Article 50, Mrs May will need the agreement of the whole of the remaining EU-27, and Spain says its own agreement is ‘not a given’ since ‘things are changing every day’.

In any case, chairman of the Council of Europe, Donald Tusk, has not yet made a formal proposal to the 27 to gain their support of an extension, although he has done so unofficially via his Twitter account.

Tusk is likely to propose the EU-27 agree to the extension during Thursday’s summit, but Sánchez says whether or not Spain agrees will be dependent upon ‘what the extra time is for’ and ‘what it will involve’.

Meanwhile, Sánchez’s government is seeking to reassure the people of Spain and its British residents, recalling that he has already approved a Bill of Law, or Royal Decree, with full contingency measures in place should the UK crash out without a deal.

This law is already in force, and will take effect the second the UK leaves – and will include automatic residence for the 400,000 Brits living in Spain, plus their continued right to healthcare, and cross-border planes continuing to fly.

But the EU’s agreement to Theresa May’s deal is ‘not an offer that can now be changed’ through haggling, because it ‘took a great deal of effort to get unanimous support’ from all member States and this would be unlikely in the event it was rehashed.

Sánchez also stresses that he has always believed Brexit to be the consequence of ‘misinformation’, the ‘advance of far-right nationalist forces’ and the ‘over-simplification’ of democracy by putting such a major decision out to referendum.

He says he will be going to Brussels with the intention of ‘doing everything possible’ to help achieve ‘an orderly Brexit’, but that Spain is prepared for ‘whatever happens’.

The EU summit is not just about Brexit, however – it will include preparations for the EU-China summit in the Belgian capital on April 9, and the European strategy in the face of climate change and ‘fake news’.

Spain supports the aim of a good strategic relationship with China, which is the EU’s second-largest trading partner, as Sánchez’s cabinet believes that any progress in global politics needs a ‘full understanding’ with China to be achieved.

The country will also support the Paris Agreement on climate change, which marks out the EU’s strategy, and agrees with the action being taken across the bloc, for which the deadline is the end of 2020.

Spain says it is also ‘doing its homework’ as set by the EU on a plan of action against ‘fake news’ and other misinformation.