EU in final push for ‘Brexit’ deal

BRUSSELS: The quest to prevent Britain crashing out of the European Union faces its moment of truth this week, with EU chief Donald Tusk touring key capitals in a final push for a deal at a crucial Brussels summit.

Many of Prime Minister David Cameron’s demands for reforms ahead of a referendum on Britain’s membership of the crisis-hit bloc still face opposition just days before the meeting on ThursdayFriday.

Tusk cleared his diary in the run-up to the summit for last-ditch talks in Berlin, Paris, Athens and other capitals to press key leaders for an agreement despite what he called a ‘very fragile’ situation.

If Britain becomes the first country to leave the 28-nation EU it would further inflame a firestorm of problems so perilous that Tusk warned recently that the situation felt like “the day before World War I.”

The EU already faces questions about the bloc’s future as it struggles with the continent’s biggestmigrationcrisisin70years, and with renewed fears about the health of the euro currency.

ThoseworriesgobeyondEurope, with US Secretary of State John Kerry saying on Saturday that Washington backs a ‘strong UK staying in a strong EU.’

Cameron, who met German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Hamburg on Friday, said he was confident of a deal although ‘I rule nothing out’ if he does not get an agreement. Merkel meanwhile said that her ‘wish’ was to avoid a so-called ‘Brexit’ in a referendum that is expected to be held in June. — AFP