It’s time to tell us what you want, ministers say, as European press tears into PM

European governments have said Britain must swiftly spell out its proposed Irish backstop alternatives and insisted the Brexit divorce deal cannot be revisited, as the continent’s media and commentators condemned Theresa May as weak and untrustworthy.

Germany’s foreign minister, Heiko Maas, said on Wednesday that London had “not yet said what changes to the backstop it envisages. It must now say quickly what it wants because time is running out.” The EU was ready to talk, he added, but “our position is clear: the agreement is the best and only solution for an orderly exit”.

The German economic affairs ministry cited fear of a chaotic Brexit as one reason for slashing its 2018 economic growth forecast from 1.8% to 1%, while the country’s BDI industry association said it was “very difficult” for German companies to see London was “further playing with valuable time” ahead of Brexit day on 29 March.

The UK parliament on Tuesday instructed May to seek changes from the EU27 to the withdrawal agreement she concluded with the EU last November. The bloc has said repeatedly that the deal could not be reopened.

France’s Europe minister, Nathalie Loiseau, said time was running out. “We are ready to talk about the future, but now is the time to agree on the conditions of separation,” she said. “The withdrawal agreement on the table is the best possible agreement. Let’s not reopen it.”

The office of the French president, Emmanuel Macron, noted in a statement that the agreement had been adopted jointly by the British government and the EU27. “This cannot be renegotiated,” it said. “The EU has been clear on this point.”

The statement added that if the UK wanted to discuss the future UK-EU relationship, the EU was “open to that, with respect for its interests and values”. Britain must in any case now “clarify its intentions and make credible proposals”.

Romania’s minister for European affairs, George Ciamba, told the Guardian that it was “a measure of the mistrust that you have in Britain” that the backstop had become such a sticking point for British MPs: “We didn’t think for one second that the backstop is there forever. Nobody wants to transform this into a hostage relationship.”

Romania holds the rotating EU presidency and hosts an informal meeting of foreign ministers this week. Ciamba ruled out reopening the agreement but said he was still optimistic a deal could be reached. “It’s a political exercise and everyone has to save face, but I don’t think this is the end of the story,” he said.

The Portuguese foreign minister, Augusto Santos Silva, said the EU was “ready to listen and give our position”, but only if Britain asked for an extension to the article 50 talks in order to present the bloc with “alternatives to its Brexit red lines, and clear alternatives to the backstop”.

Margot Wallström, Sweden’s foreign minister, said she “cannot forgive” the British government’s “dangerous … and badly handled” approach to Brexit, adding: “I just think they’ve made such a historical mistake. They’ve really created a problem for all of us.”

The European media was equally damning, accusing the prime minister of putting party before country. “To avoid the disintegration of her own Conservative party, Theresa May is now risking a major showdown with the EU,” wrote the French paper Le Monde’s London correspondent, Philippe Bernard.

“Two months before the divorce date, she hopes to question two years of discussions with the EU27 – ditching her own handiwork.” British MPs sent two contradictory messages, the paper said: “One majority rejected no deal; another mandated May to begin a renegotiation so hypothetical as to risk a no deal.”

As for the prime minister, she made her strategy very clear: “As risky as it is, she intends to run down the clock so as to force the EU27 into making concessions before 29 March. And then, if necessary, blame the EU – an easy scapegoat – for eventual failure.”

In Germany, Björn Finke in the Süddeutsche Zeitung said the best way forward for May would undoubtedly be to approach Labour with concessions on a permanent customs union. “But that would lose her the support of hardcore Brexiteers in her own party, and risk splitting the Conservatives,” he said.

“Since May lacks the courage and the leadership to take such a step, she prefers the seemingly simpler way: renegotiation. Brussels cannot trust her promise to win a majority if changes are made to the deal. May does not have her own party under control. May’s weakness is dangerous, for Britain and for the rest of the EU.”

In an opinion piece for El País attacking May’s “startling disloyalty”, Xavier Vidal-Folch said bluntly the British prime minister “can no longer be trusted. Not because her judgment and arguments lack depth, but because she changes them at every step.”

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It is true that this “worries the Europeans”, Vidal-Folch said. “That’s why they’re drawing up contingency plans, which only remind them of the losses ahead. But those who’ll suffer the most damage are the British themselves.

“The car industry, banks and technology sector are all putting the finishing touches to their own partial or total ex-Brit plans. It’s not abstract markets that will tip the balance, but real businesses, inventors, professionals and doctors. Because May can no longer be trusted.”

NRC Handelsblad in the Netherlands was equally brutal. “To save her Brexit deal, avoid a split in her party and retain the minimum of control a prime minister needs, May aims to provoke a conflict with the EU,” it said.

“What has not proved possible in the past two years now has to be sorted in a fortnight, before the next parliamentary vote … The job looks impossible. The moment of truth approaches for British politics.”