EU ready to delay Brexit until 2020: report
— European Union officials are examining plans to delay Brexit until 2020 after Germany and France indicated their willingness to extend withdrawal negotiations amid British political turmoil, the Times newspaper reported.
Previous planning had centered on a three-month delay to Brexit from March 29 until the end of June but now, according to sources quoted by the Times, EU officials are investigating legal routes to postpone Britain’s withdrawal until next year.
No more games
BRUSSELS (dpa) — The European Union delivered a clear message on Wednesday after Westminster rejected the Brexit divorce deal struck with Brussels: The deal is not up for renegotiation and Britain must now say what it wants.
“It is now for the British government to clarify how the United Kingdom wants to proceed to organize the orderly withdrawal that it requested,” said EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, warning that the risk of a no-deal Brexit “has never seemed so high.”
“The time for kids’ games is over,” added German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas.
Within minutes of the vote, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker warned late Tuesday that the deal painstakingly negotiated with London remains the “only way” to prevent a disorderly Brexit.
“I urge the United Kingdom to clarify its intentions as soon as possible. Time is almost up,” he added.
Britain is due to leave the EU in 10 weeks’ time, on March 29.
After suffering a record defeat on Tuesday, Prime Minister Theresa May survived a no-confidence vote in parliament on Wednesday.
May has pledged to hold cross-party talks aimed at breaking the Brexit deadlock, ahead of a Monday deadline to present British lawmakers with a plan B.
In the meantime, Brussels is in waiting mode.
“At this stage, there is nothing more that the EU can do,” Juncker’s spokesman Margaritis Schinas put it bluntly.
The bloc insists that it cannot accept changes to the divorce deal, notably regarding the highly contentious Irish backstop, an insurance policy aimed at preserving peace in Northern Ireland at the risk of locking the United Kingdom into close EU trade ties.
“The backstop must be a backstop; it must be credible,” Barnier said on Wednesday.
However, he pointed out that the EU stood ready to deepen the scope of the future Britain-EU relationship — outlined in a political text accompanying the divorce deal — should Britain’s red lines evolve beyond anything more than a simple free trade deal.