A clearly frustrated European Union has given Britain some headroom to find a way out of its Brexit quagmire by agreeing an extension to the…
A clearly frustrated European Union has given Britain some headroom to find a way out of its Brexit quagmire by agreeing an extension to the country’s departure until Halloween. But now it’s up to Britain’s squabbling politicians to work out if they can meet the new deadline.
Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to brief Parliament Thursday on the results of the emergency EU summit that ended in the early hours, but her path toward actually taking Britain out of the EU remains unclear.
She is blocked by a strong faction in her own Conservative Party that hates her withdrawal deal and hopes to oust her, and talks aimed at winning support from the opposition Labour Party are moving forward slowly, if at all.
May’s own authority has been gravely compromised by the long Brexit ordeal and she has promised to step down once Britain leaves the bloc — if efforts to get rid of her more quickly do not bear fruit.
Faced with so much uncertainty, EU leaders whose talks went well after midnight agreed on a new Oct. 31 cutoff date. If no extension was granted, then Britain faced the prospect of crashing out of the EU this Friday with no deal, a scenario that in Parliament worry would lead to a deep recession as tariffs are imposed on U. K. exports and other restrictions on trade are imposed.
«Please, do not waste this time,» European Council President Donald Tusk pleaded. He said the EU was giving Britain six more months «to find the best possible solution» to its Brexit impasse.
Like many things related to Brexit, the extension was a messy compromise. May came to an emergency summit in Brussels seeking to postpone Britain’s departure from the EU until June 30. Some European leaders favored a longer extension, while French President Emmanuel Macron was wary of anything but a very short delay.
Leaders of the 27 remaining EU member states met for more than six hours over a dinner of scallop and cod before settling on the end of October, with the possibility of an earlier Brexit if Britain ratifies a withdrawal agreement.
