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Comment by struppi | Hacker News Reader

IIRC, the EU already hinted that they would allow stopping the Brexit-Process, even though this should be impossible according to Article 50.

And they also said they would fast-track an application of the UK, if they applied for membership after leaving.

But I guess, from the EU's perspective, you would need approval of all member states for both, which is incredibly hard to get these days.

And the current UK government probably does not see any of these 2 as an option...

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>> this should be impossible according to Article 50

I thought it could be stopped at anytime with agreement of all member states. According to Lord Kerr (who devised Article 50):

"It is not irrevocable. You can change your mind while the process is going on.

During that period, if a country were to decide actually we don't want to leave after all, everybody would be very cross about it being a waste of time.

They might try to extract a political price but legally they couldn't insist that you leave."

> I thought it could be stopped at anytime with agreement of all member states.

ANYTHING can be done with agreement of all member states. Including completely rewriting the Treaty of Rome, Maastricht Treaty, and Treaty of Lisbon along with every other agreement that makes up the EU.

I actually think there would be plenty of support for Britain staying. I think there's still concern about what happens if the UK makes a success of Brexit, coming back and making some concessions (on our current priviledged status) is a better story for those that fear the domino of exits.

Do you have any sources that reversing article 50 "should be impossible"?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-39291512 seems to give a good spread of opinions, including:

> "They might try to extract a political price," Lord Kerr said, "but legally they couldn't insist that you leave."

I don't recall where I read it, but I recall reading an article some time ago saying there were different opinions by experts about whether the process could be stopped. Because Article 50 simply does not mention stopping the process.

But I could be wrong ;)

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