AFP
London
EU leaders on Friday called for clarity from Britain before considering any delay to Brexit after a series of chaotic votes by MPs just two weeks before the deeply divided country is due to leave the bloc.
Quitting the EU after 46 years on March 29 remains the legal default unless EU leaders unanimously grant Britain an extension, with the issue likely to dominate a March 21-22 EU summit in Brussels. The length of any possible delay will depend on the outcome of another parliamentary vote on the twice massively rejected Brexit deal struck by Prime Minister Theresa May with EU leaders.
The government said it would ask for a "technical” delay until June 30 to pass necessary legislation if MPs finally approve the deal next week.
If MPs vote against it for a third time, the government has warned it will be forced to seek a much longer delay.
"It is very clear that the next steps, the next proposal on how to move forward must come from Britain,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert said in Berlin on Friday. French President Emmanuel Macron’s office said that if the current deal is rejected again "a clear and new alternative plan” must be presented or else Britain would have to leave the EU with no agreement.
London
EU leaders on Friday called for clarity from Britain before considering any delay to Brexit after a series of chaotic votes by MPs just two weeks before the deeply divided country is due to leave the bloc.
Quitting the EU after 46 years on March 29 remains the legal default unless EU leaders unanimously grant Britain an extension, with the issue likely to dominate a March 21-22 EU summit in Brussels. The length of any possible delay will depend on the outcome of another parliamentary vote on the twice massively rejected Brexit deal struck by Prime Minister Theresa May with EU leaders.
The government said it would ask for a "technical” delay until June 30 to pass necessary legislation if MPs finally approve the deal next week.
If MPs vote against it for a third time, the government has warned it will be forced to seek a much longer delay.
"It is very clear that the next steps, the next proposal on how to move forward must come from Britain,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert said in Berlin on Friday. French President Emmanuel Macron’s office said that if the current deal is rejected again "a clear and new alternative plan” must be presented or else Britain would have to leave the EU with no agreement.