EU may grant Brexit delay if UK Parliament backs PM May next week
LONDON: European Council president Donald Tusk said it would be possible to grant Britain a short postponement if Parliament next week backs British Prime Minster Theresa May's divorce agreement, which it has already voted down twice.
Should that happen, Mr Tusk said no extraordinary European Union summit would be needed next week before the current Brexit date. Otherwise, he said he might convene the leaders again.
"I believe that a short extension will be possible, but it will be conditional on a positive vote on the Withdrawal Agreement in the House of Commons," Mr Tusk told journalists.
He did not comment on the possibility - which he himself has suggested - that another option such as a longer delay might be offered to avoid a painful no-deal exit if Mrs May's deal was voted down again.
Mrs May said British lawmakers had spent long enough saying what they did not want from Brexit, and that people were tired of their infighting, political games and arcane procedural rows.
"I passionately hope MPs (lawmakers) will find a way to back the deal I have negotiated with the EU," Mrs May said in a televised address.
She said lawmakers had a choice: Leave the EU with a deal, leave without a deal, or not leave at all.
"It is high time we made a decision," Mrs May said, telling Britons, "I am on your side."
Earlier, she had told a rowdy session of Parliament that she could not countenance the prospect of a long delay - which could give time for notional alternative approaches to emerge, but would infuriate Brexit supporters in her own party.
"As prime minister, I am not prepared to delay Brexit any further than the 30th of June," she said.
Mrs May did not say when the next vote on her deal would happen.
If she cannot win over enough reluctant lawmakers next week, Britain faces the choice of requesting a longer delay or leaving the EU as planned on March 29 - without a deal to cushion the economic upheaval.
Many pro-Brexit members of Mrs May's Conservative Party are opposed to a longer delay because they fear it could mean Brexit might never happen. - REUTERS
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now