The political uncertainty and confusion in the U.K. has riled politicians and the public alike with frustration over the length of time that Brexit is taking. Britain was originally due to leave the bloc on March 29 but was granted more time as no deal had been ratified.
European Parliament elections in late May are a key focus for the EU and Brexit is a complicated and unwanted distraction. There is therefore no certainty over what decision EU leaders will take Wednesday.
EU Council President Donald Tusk has suggested a one-year extension to Brexit but French President Emmanuel Macron has said there should be tough conditions imposed on the U.K. if it’s given any further time.
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said Saturday that he considered it highly unlikely that EU leaders would veto a proposal to grant Britain more time, however, and that any country that did “wouldn’t be forgiven for it.”
Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg Bank, said the bank expects the EU to “reluctantly grant the U.K. a further Brexit delay” just because the alternative — “a hard Brexit with even more political chaos in a country that will remain a close neighbour, is just too bad.”
“Most of the cautious comments by EU27 decision makers point that way. Still, deciding unanimously at the 10 April emergency summit to give the U.K. even more time to sort itself out will not come easy for the EU27. It raises serious concerns and a grave tail risk,” he said in a note Monday.
“The EU27 may ask why a new delay should finally help the U.K. to get its act together if the first delay has not done the trick.”
May has been criticized by pro-Brexit members of her own Conservative Party and Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) on whose support she has relied upon in a minority government.
She has defended her decision to talk to Labour, however, tweeting a video Sunday in which she said she could not see Parliament accepting her Brexit deal after it was rejected three times and that “the choice that lies ahead of us is either leaving the European Union with a deal or not leaving at all.”
from Viral News Reports http://bit.ly/2Kl3c9U
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