ZCZC
BFF-26
BRITAIN-EU-BREXIT-POLITICS-GERMANY-FRANCE
Britain’s May seeks Brexit delay from Merkel, Macron
LONDON, April 9, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – British Prime Minister Theresa May meets
the leaders of Germany and France on Tuesday in a last-gasp bid to keep her
country from crashing out of the European Union later this week.
Her huddles with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin and French
President Emmanuel Macron in Paris come on the eve of another tension-packed
summit in Brussels focused on the fate of the 46-year-old partnership.
May asked EU leaders on Friday to delay Brexit until June 30 to give her
time to strike a compromise with the opposition that lets Britain’s hung
parliament back an orderly divorce plan on the fourth attempt.
But the 27 European leaders have already signed off on one extension —
the original deadline was March 29 — and have serious doubts that May will
somehow break through the political gridlock now.
May’s predicament is complicated by growing EU fears that the chaos will
soon carry political and economic costs even heavier than those potentially
incurred in case of a messy “no-deal Brexit”.
This view is being promoted publicly by Macron and is also believed to be
backed by Belgium and Spain.
“We’d need a strong political reason to delay,” a diplomat from this camp
said.
EU Council president Donald Tusk’s office last week floated a compromise
proposal that gives Britain a “flexible” extension of up to a year — which
ends earlier should some way forward emerge in London.
But a diplomatic source insisted that this was “Mr. Tusk’s position, not
the position of the Council”.
Merkel takes a more conciliatory approach backed by EU member Ireland — a
crucial player whose politically sensitive border with Britain’s Northern
Ireland is holding up May’s deal in parliament.
“I will do everything in order to prevent a no-deal Brexit,” Merkel said
Friday.
“Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”
– Paralysis and disarray –
The diplomatic disarray in Brussels is mirrored by political paralysis in
London that has forced May to promise to resign as soon as she gets this
first stage of Brexit over the line.
The weakened British leader had been hoping to come to Brussels with
either her deal approved or some sort of alternative way forward drafted that
could convince the likes of Macron.
But her talks with the opposition Labour Party have made no tangible
progress and seem unlikely to find common ground before she flies to Brussels
seeking a second delay in three weeks.
“The problem is that the government doesn’t seem to be moving off the
original red lines,” Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said Monday. The government
will instead present a plan to parliament Tuesday to outline how long it
intends to delay Brexit.
This is part of legislation passed into law late Monday to force May to
postpone Brexit if the only other alternative is a no-deal scenario.
May’s talks with Labour have stumbled over Corbyn’s demand that Britain
join some form of European customs arrangement once the sides formally split
up.
EU officials are ready to include such a promise in the outlines of the
sides’ future relationship that was agreed alongside the binding withdrawal
deal.
But May knows that the prospect of close post-Brexit economic relations
could further fracture her government and party ahead of possible snap
elections.
Almost any form of European customs arrangement would keep Britain from
striking its own global trade agreement and leave one of the biggest
perceived advantages of Brexit unfulfilled.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1053 hrs