Top EU Officials Allow Room For Regrexit

After initial statements from top European officials indicating their desire to see the UK get on with leaving as quickly as possible and minimize the extended period of uncertainty and negotiations, a new tone has emerged yesterday and today.  Angela Merkel’s chief of staff said “[p]oliticians in London should have the possibility to think again about the fallout from an exit” and other officials indicated that there was no hurry to have the UK invoke Article 50 until after a new Prime Minister takes over this fall. In a classic statement that actually indicates the problem that people have with the EU political class, one senior official in Brussels remarked, ““[t]he [democratic] decision of the people today can overturn the democratic decision of yesterday.” Yes, that is certainly true and it would be nice if it happened but it is typically and infuriatingly tone-deaf to the actual will of the people.

All these comments are quite an about face from comments made immediately after the vote. Whether that reflects an actual movement to somehow reconsider Brexit is still rather doubtful.