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AFP
Brussels
European leaders piled the pressure on British MPs Thursday to back a divorce deal they have negotiated with Prime Minister Theresa May, warning that the alternative was a cliff-edge exit from the EU next week.
May has asked EU leaders for a three-month delay to Brexit to allow her to try one more time to get her withdrawal agreement through parliament, and the bloc has indicated it could postpone exit day to May 22.
But as they arrived at a two-day summit in Brussels dominated by Britain’s deep political crisis, the other 27 leaders warned that this would be possible only if MPs approve next week the deal they have already resoundingly rejected twice.
“In the case of a negative British vote then we’d be heading to a no deal,” French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters. “We all know it. And it’s essential to be clear in these days and moments.”
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said he expected his fellow European leaders to agree in principle on Thursday to May’s request for a delay.
But they would then “put it fairly and squarely at the door of the British parliament to make that call”, adding: “In case they say no, I’m not going to speculate.” European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said that May “has to make sure that the British parliament agrees to the withdrawal deal”.
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22/03/2019
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