Europe's leaders are headed to Brussels on Wednesday for an emergency Brexit summit at which they will debate the possibility of another delay to the Brexit process.
UK Prime Minister Theresa May has asked for the cliff-edge date to be pushed back to June 30.
For their part, the remaining European members appear to be open to an extension, but some are concerned that the Westminster impasse will not be resolved by mid-summer.
In a letter to EU leaders on Tuesday, Donald Tusk said there was “little reason” to believe the UK can ratify a withdrawal deal by the end of June because of the “deep divisions in the House of Commons” and Britain’s track record in negotiations so far.
"In reality, granting such an extension would increase the risk of a rolling series of short extensions and emergency summits, creating new cliff-edge dates. This, in turn, would almost certainly overshadow the business of the EU27 in the months ahead. The continued uncertainty would also be bad for our businesses and citizens. Finally, if we failed to agree on any next extension, there would be a risk of an accidental no-deal Brexit.”
In light of these prospects, Tusk will ask EU leaders to consider a "flextension."
“Flexibility would allow to terminate the extension automatically, as soon as both sides have ratified the Withdrawal Agreement. The UK would be free to leave whenever it is ready. And the EU27 would avoid repeated Brexit summits. Importantly, a long extension would provide more certainty and predictability by removing the threat of constantly shifting cliff-edge dates. Furthermore, in the event of a continued stalemate, such a longer extension would allow the UK to rethink its Brexit strategy.”
None of the EU leaders want to be responsible for pushing the UK off a cliff-edge and making the no-deal scenario a reality. But CNN's Melissa Bell reports from Brussels that their overriding priority is to protect the bloc after the UK's departure.
France wants to limit the UK's influence in the EU in the interim, she says.
"Bear in mind that Macron came to power on a platform of being a champion of Europe and moving towards closer European integration," Bell reports.
Yesterday an Elysee spokesman told reporters:
“It’s also about a willingness to accept strict conditions for a long extension. We were never against extensions. We’ve been clear, we’ve said no to renegotiating the deal. We never said no to an extension but if we cannot decide on an extension with guarantees there is still the risk of a no deal.”
The spokesman added: "France being portrayed as a bad cop is not correct. We are looking for solutions but we need to stay firm.”
from CNN.com - RSS Channel https://cnn.it/2U7Nu1i
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