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A Brexit fact which is not acknowledged in the UK: the EU is not a unitary actor and this means there is no constant centre of political decision-making, in contrast with State capitals.1/
The European Council is the top decision-maker. It meets every couple of months, no more. 2/
The European Council controls the Art 50 process. It drew up guidelines, reviewed negotiations lasting almost two years and approved the outcome. 3/
It decides by super qualified majority. So to make fundamental changes of the kind now advocated, particularly by Boris Johnson, a super majority first needs to agree to them. 4/
Then and only then could the Commission start negotiating anything.6/
All this by end of October? Absolutely inconceivable. The big political mistake is to think that the EU operates, or can operate, like Westminster. It cannot.7/
Guess why? Because it is hopelessly bureaucratic, legalese, inflexible? No: because it is a collection of equal sovereign states. END
