U.K. Can Revoke Brexit Unilaterally, Court Advises - Wall Street Journal

Demonstrators protest against Brexit outside the Houses of Parliament in London, Britain, Nov. 28. Photo: henry nicholls/Reuters

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Laurence Norman

The Wall Street Journal

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Dec. 4, 2018 4:28 a.m. ET

BRUSSELS—The U.K. government can unilaterally reverse its decision to leave the European Union without consent of other members of the bloc, the European Court of Justice said in an opinion that if confirmed would add another twist into an already complex path toward Brexit.

The European court’s opinion, which requires confirmation in a final court ruling, throws up another obstacle for British Prime Minister Theresa May as she tries to win parliamentary backing for her Brexit deal with the EU.

Mrs. May argues that if lawmakers reject the Brexit deal in a coming vote, Britain would be forced into a disorderly exit from the bloc. Opponents of Brexit can now point to the opinion to argue that Britain could avoid that by unilaterally reversing its bid to leave the EU.

If upheld, Tuesday’s opinion would also be a blow to Brussels. The EU’s lawyers had argued that once a country has notified its plan to leave, only a joint decision of all member states could allow that process to be reversed.

The ECJ will make a final ruling on the matter in coming weeks. The court generally follows the opinions set out by its advocate generals but there have been frequent exceptions.

In his opinion, Advocate General Campos Sanchez-Bordona said that it would break international law to make a country’s decision to change its mind about leaving the EU contingent on the agreement of the other members of the bloc.

He added that there were certain conditions to that. For instance, if a country’s parliament had backed a decision to leave, lawmakers must back a decision to stay in the EU before the government could reverse the move. The opinion also said that the member state must formally notify its EU partners of its intention and must be acting in “good faith” to prevent abuse of the exit process.

A Guide to Every Possible Brexit Outcome

British lawmakers Tuesday begin five days of debate on the contents of two documents that make up the Brexit agreement: the legally binding tome that dictates the U.K.’s exit from the EU and a thin document outlining its future relationship with the bloc.

On Dec. 11, lawmakers are expected to overwhelmingly reject the deal Mrs. May negotiated with the EU. Brexiteers opposed to the deal argue it could lock Britain within the EU’s economic orbit indefinitely and force the U.K. to accept economic rules the country doesn’t shape, while those in favor of remaining the EU say the deal would make Britain poorer than staying in the bloc. Should her deal be turned down by lawmakers, Mrs. May has until Jan. 1. to outline what the government will do next.

Tuesday’s case was brought by a cross-party group of Scottish lawmakers.

EU lawyers had sided with the British government in a hearing in November, arguing that permitting a country to pull the plug on its exit plan would open the door for the process to be exploited by countries seeking to win concessions from EU rules.

Mrs. May’s government became the first country to trigger the so-called Article 50 in March 2017 after the British public narrowly backed leaving the EU in a referendum in June 2016. Under EU law, that opened a two-year negotiating period for the U.K. to agree exit terms with the bloc and draw up an outline of future U.K.-EU economic and security relations.