Under-pressure British PM trying hard to rescue Brexit deal

BRUSSELS: British Prime Minister Theresa May left the EU summit on Friday exactly as she had arrived — promising talks to extract reassuring words from EU leaders to help her sell the Brexit deal back home.

In the intervening hours those leaders had expressed frustration with May’s “nebulous” strategy to get the withdrawal treaty past the House of Commons and insisted yet again that they will not renegotiate the text.

May says she had a “robust” exchange with EU Commission President Jeanclaude Juncker about his use of the word “nebulous,” which was construed by some as targeting the thoughts of the British leader herself.

In a statement on the Brexit talks, Juncker criticised the divorce debate for sometimes being“nebulous and imprecise .”

May nevertheless put a brave face on the apparent rebuff and set off back to London to restart plans to put the Brexit deal before parliament, just ive days after she abandoned a scheduled vote in the face of mass opposition from her own MPS.

“There is work still to do and we will be holding talks in the coming days about how to obtain the further assurances that the UK parliament needs in order to be able to approve the deal,” she said.

European oficials said no further EU summits are scheduled before Jan.21 — by which time May has said the deal will have gone to parliament — and the British leader has not requested one.

“There is an agreement, the only and best deal possible and we cannot renegotiate it. But we can clarify and reassure,” French President Emmanuel Macron said. Instead, the Europeans called for more details from May as to how she intends to pass a withdrawal bill that, as it stands, is opposed by a clear majority of British lawmakers.

It was not immediately clear which further talks she was referring to, as the EU leaders had cut a clause from a draft declaration that would have promised “further assurances” on the border issue.

“I have no mandate to organise any further negotiations,” said Donald Tusk, the summit host and president of the European Council, which represents EU leaders.

“We have to exclude any kind of reopening of negotiations on the withdrawal agreement but we will stay here in Brussels and I am always at Prime Minister May’s disposal,” he said.