EU leaders line up to play harball as May asks for another delay: Merkel ally pushes for a LONG postponement of Brexit and forcing Britain to hold European elections after Macron’s No Deal warning
- EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker is making a speech later today
- He is expected to set out the latest EU position on Brexit amid chaos in London
- Comes as an ally of Angela Merkel called for a long extension and EU elections
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Senior EU figures warned Britain should be handed a long delay to Brexit and forced to hold European Parliament elections today.
The interventions raise the prospects of Mrs May’s hopes of a second short delay with an exit plan if she passes the deal in time to avoid the polls on May 22.
A member of Angela Merkel’s party today said there was ‘no point’ in Mrs May’s plan while a senior MEP warned it would be a ‘political effort’ to get EU leaders on board.
The Prime Minister announced last night she would seek a new consensus with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on the final UK-EU trade deal before asking for a new delay to Brexit at an emergency EU summit next week.
Whatever Mrs May asks for, EU leaders must agree unanimously on the terms – and she will not be in the room as they decide.
And before the Prime Minister announced her cross-party talks, French President Emmanuel Macron was already warning that she must come with a concrete plan if she is to ask for another delay on Wednesday.
He said: ‘Should the United Kingdom be unable to – three years after the referendum – propose a solution backed by a majority, they will de facto have chosen for themselves to leave without a deal. We cannot avoid failure for them’.
EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker will spell out the bloc’s position in a speech this afternoon amid rising frustration with Britain’s political deadlock.
EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker (pictured today in Brussels) will spell out the bloc’s position in a speech this afternoon amid rising frustration with Britain’s political deadlock
Norbert Rottgen, a member of Angela Merkel’s party, today said there was ‘no point’ in Mrs May’s plan while a senior MEP warned it would be a ‘political effort’ to get EU leaders on board
Norbert Röttgen, a member of Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union who heads the Bundestag’s foreign affairs committee, said: ‘In the current situation of deep institutional deadlock, there is no point in asking for another short delay of Brexit.
‘EU should insist on long extension with participation in EU elections.’
Danuta Maria Hübner, a leading MEP on the European parliament’s Brexit steering committee, told BBC’s Radio 4’s Today programme she feared it would be a ‘political effort to convince 27 member states to to continue with this process of extension’.
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EU leaders last night said they would be patient in the aftermath of Mrs May’s speech.
Denmark’s prime minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, tweeted: ‘Since we could agree to postpone Brexit to right before EP [European parliament] election given the approval of May’s agreement, we should also be patient there suddenly is a cross-party way forward in UK. But is it too good to believe?’
Council President Donald Tusk said: ‘Even if, after today, we don’t know what the end result will be, let us be patient.’
The Prime Minister announced last night she would seek a new consensus with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on the final UK-EU trade deal before asking for a new delay to Brexit at an emergency EU summit next week
Denmark’s prime minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, tweeted: ‘Since we could agree to postpone Brexit to right before EP [European parliament] election given the approval of May’s agreement, we should also be patient there suddenly is a cross-party way forward in UK. But is it too good to believe?’
Council President Donald Tusk said: ‘Even if, after today, we don’t know what the end result will be, let us be patient.’
When she last asked for an extension to Brexit, just a week before the original exit day of March 29, EU leaders rejected Mrs May’s plan.
She had asked for a three month delay to the end of June. She was given a two week extension to April 12, with an optional extension to May 22 if she passed the deal by March 29.
Mrs May now appears set to make a similar request with a view to still leaving by May 22 to avoid Britain having to take part in EU elections.
But she could be forced to accept a longer delay. The Government has already told councils it will cover the costs for EU elections if the polls have to be held.
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