European commission president Jean-Claude Juncker | Photo credit: European Commission audiovisual service
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has warned that Brussels will be in no mood to offer Britain gracious exit terms if it opts to leave the EU on Thursday.
Quashing the view of some senior members of the Vote Leave campaign that there would be no need to automatically trigger the EU's Article 50 exit mechanism in the event of a Leave victory, Juncker said on Wednesday that a vote to pull out would negate all other options.
"British policy makers and British voters have to know that there will not be any kind of renegotiation," he said. "Out is out."
Juncker's comments indicate that the possibility of a "friendly" exit, following extensive informal negotiations is unlikely. Vote Leave campaigners had suggested that an alternative 'Greenland example' or international treaty law could be used instead of Article 50.
His eleventh hour intervention appeared to also be aimed directly at British prime minister David Cameron, who said this morning that the process of reform would “continue on Friday” if the UK decides to remain inside the EU".
Juncker warned that, "We have concluded a deal with the prime minister. He got the maximum he could receive and we gave the maximum we could give."
" So there will be no renegotiation, not on the agreement we found in February, nor as far as any kind of treaty negotiations are concerned".