--- description: "Enough is enough," the French daily Le Monde wrote in an editorial. "The time has come for them to make up their minds." title: How Europe's Media Responded to the Brexit Deal Defeat image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt48ee65502349a86e/6989436097cdff73e16b7296/gettyimages-543431378.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [United Kingdom](/tag/united-kingdom/) ## United Kingdom Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # 'Enough is Enough.' How European Media Responded to the Brexit Deal Defeat  by [Ciara Nugent](/author/ciara-nugent/)  ## Ciara Nugent Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 16, 2019 3:57 PM CUT  A man waves both a Union flag and a European flag together on College Green outside The Houses of Parliament at an anti-Brexit protest in central London on June 28, 2016. A man waves both a Union flag and a European flag together on College Green outside The Houses of Parliament at an anti-Brexit protest in central London on June 28, 2016.Justin Tallis—AFP/Getty Images  by [Ciara Nugent](/author/ciara-nugent/)  ## Ciara Nugent Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 16, 2019 3:57 PM CUT On Tuesday night, U.K. lawmakers [resoundingly rejected the Brexit agreement](http://time.com/5504210/theresa-may-brexit-deal-defeat/ "undefined") Prime Minister Theresa May has spent a year and a half negotiating with the European Union. It was the biggest parliamentary defeat for a government proposal in the U.K.’s modern history, with 432 lawmakers voting against the deal, and only 202 in favor. As May faces a no confidence vote Wednesday and the British government scrambles to find a way to avoid crashing out of the bloc without a deal on March 29 (a [“no-deal” Brexit](http://time.com/5358452/britain-no-deal-brexit/ "undefined")), the rest of Europe is watching the chaos unfold. Here’s what their front pages and editorials looked like. ## Ireland In the Republic of Ireland, whose [second-biggest trading partner](https://wits.worldbank.org/CountryProfile/en/Country/IRL/Year/LTST/TradeFlow/EXPIMP/Partner/by-country "undefined") is the U.K., the mood is understandably tense. Conservative daily [the _Irish Examiner_](https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/theresa-may-suffers-humiliating-defeat-as-eu-say-deal-needed-for-orderly-withdrawal-897868.html "undefined") dubbed the rejection of the deal “carnage” and warned that it leaves the U.K. on the “Eve of Destruction.” Dublin, it says, is now planning for “worst case scenarios”. > [](https://twitter.com/DarranMarshall/status/1085310574848815104) The editorial board of centrist newspaper [_The Irish Times_](https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/brexit/the-irish-times-view-on-theresa-may-s-defeat-go-back-to-the-british-people-1.3759229 "undefined") writes that the scale of May’s defeat means her only option is to hold a second public referendum on E.U. membership. “The other E.U. members would surely agree to extend the UK’s departure date under Article 50 to allow this to happen,” the paper claims. ## France With dramatic flourish, the editorial board of centre-left daily [_Le Monde_](https://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2019/01/16/brexit-enough-is-enough%5F5409848%5F3232.html "undefined") compares the U.K.’s current political trajectory to the country’s most iconic car: “Like a Rolls-Royce whose brakes have been cut and is sliding unstoppably down a slope into an abyss, Great Britain sinks deeper into the Brexit crisis.” While none of the E.U.’s other 27 members wants to “close the door in Britain’s face,” the editorial continues, “Enough is enough. The time has come for them to make up their minds.” > [](https://twitter.com/GillesKLEIN/status/1085431212154503168) Guillaume Maujean, a columnist for French financial newspaper [_Les Échos_](https://www.lesechos.fr/idees-debats/editos-analyses/0600526818939-churchill-reveille-toi-ils-sont-devenus-fous-2236810.php#xtor=CS1-26 "undefined"), appeals to Britain’s most famous historical statesman, “Churchill, wake up! They’ve gone crazy!” He lays the blame for the confusion firmly on the British political elite, who, he says, “could now push the whole of the U.K. into a no-deal Brexit no one wants”. ## Italy Italy’s leftist newspaper _La Repubblica_ echoes the widespread sense of uncertainty with its front page headline “May on the edge of the abyss.” A [column](https://rep.repubblica.it/pwa/commento/2019/01/15/news/un%5Fisola%5Falla%5Fderiva-216660524/ "undefined") by the paper’s Enrico Franceschini labels Britain “an island adrift” and expresses frustration that, two and a half years after the U.K. voted to leave the E.U., the whole process “seems to have gone back to square one.” > [](https://twitter.com/repubblica/status/1085386419684757506) ## Spain Spanish daily _ABC_‘s front page claims the British have been left “Prisoners of Brexit.” Its [story](https://www.abc.es/internacional/abci-parlamento-britanico-tumba-acuerdo-brexit-theresa-mas-200-votos-201901152042%5Fnoticia.html "undefined") warns that, with the deal voted down, “no one has any idea when this process will end, nor how to go about it.” > [](https://twitter.com/abc%5Fes/status/1085318211174887424) ## Germany The editorial board at German conservative broadsheet [_Die Welt_](https://www.dw.com/en/opinion-brexit-likely-to-be-britains-greatest-disaster/a-47097258 "undefined") has harsh words for May. “May deserves this defeat in Parliament because she herself is to blame \[…\] From the outset, as head of government, she only had her Conservative \[party\] in view.” The paper argues that May should resign. “For British politics, May’s persistence, which has long bordered on stubbornness, is a disaster.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5504205/europe-media-brexit-deal-parliament-defeat/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5504205/europe-media-brexit-deal-parliament-defeat/"},"headline":"'Enough is Enough.' 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