Lagarde applauds the extension because a "brexit" without agreement would be "terrible"

Lagarde applauds the extension because a "brexit" without agreement would be "terrible"



The postponement of the "brexit" until next October 31 is "positive" because it eliminates the risk of an exit without an agreement that would have been "something terrible", although it does not "resolve" the situation, said the managing director of the Monetary Fund on Thursday. International (IMF), Christine Lagarde.

"(The extension) eliminates the risk of a 'brexit' without agreement on April 12, which was one of the options (...) A 'brexit' without an agreement would have been a terrible result," Lagarde said at the formal press of the IMF and World Bank spring assembly, held in Washington.

The top executive of the Fund stressed that the postponement agreed on Thursday "does not resolve the situation but only postpones it," but at least it offers the parties "more time to continue discussions," he said.

The Fund lowered its forecasts of economic growth of the United Kingdom to 1.2% for this year and 1.4% next Tuesday, and insisted that the uncertainty around the "brexit" is one of the factors that weigh on the Global economy.

The 27 countries that will remain in the European Union (EU) after the departure of the United Kingdom agreed to grant London an extension for a "brexit" negotiated until October 31, which is halfway between the short extension by which France advocated and the longest that favored Germany.

After an extraordinary summit that concluded at dawn after several hours of discussion, the Twenty-seven agreed on a new calendar for the "brexit" with a new maximum date of departure, on October 31, and an intermediate evaluation of the process at its ordinary summit in June. .

The mandate of the current European Commission ends in principle on October 31 and, therefore, London would not elect a new European Commissioner.

The British Prime Minister, Theresa May, had requested an extension until June 30, while the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, was betting on a longer one, a maximum of one year, to allow the United Kingdom to leave the EU as soon as it is ready, which would mean that London would have to call European elections.

.



Source link