British PM to hold talks with EU leaders on Thursday

BRUSSELS: EU President Jeanclaude Juncker will host British Prime Minister Theresa May for talks in Brussels on Thursday as the two sides seek to save their Brexit deal.

Plans for Britain to leave the European Union on March 29 under a withdrawal agreement signed last year were thrown into doubt when British lawmakers rejected the accord.

Brussels is now waiting for May to formally request renewed talks, while warning that the agreement itself cannot at this stage be reopened for discussion.

“While the commission’s position is clear, we are waiting to see what the British PM has to say,” Juncker’s spokesman Margaritis Schinas told reporters at his daily briefing on Tuesday.

“A series of votes has taken place in the British Parliament, upon the basis of which the prime minister will come to explain what comes next.”

The House of Commons last month overwhelmingly rejected the Brexit deal that May had negotiated with the EU over almost two years.

In a subsequent vote, a majority of MPS urged her to renegotiate the most controversial part of the agreement, the “backstop” arrangement intended to keep open the border between British Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland.

May’s government is now urgently looking into what changes might satisfy her MPS, who fear the backstop would keep Britain indefinitely tied to EU trade rules, with even closer alignment for Northern Ireland.

Confirming Thursday’s talks, the prime minister’s spokesman said, “You can expect her to update the European Commission president on the discussions that have been taking place at home and the way forward.”

The impasse has led to fears Britain could crash out of the EU.