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Agence France-Presse

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.
The British government is hoping that talk of a long delay to Brexit will persuade hardliners in May’s own Conservative Party and its ally, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), to get behind her deal.




Speaking on a visit to Paris, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said “everyone would welcome” MPs approving the deal and Brexit being briefly pushed back to get the necessary legislation through.
But, asked about the possibility of a longer delay, Coveney said: “I think many EU leaders will be very uncomfortable with a long extension.”
He said Ireland would only consider it if it was to “implement a clear plan and strategy to reflect on and perhaps change direction in regard to Brexit”.
In the East and West, leaders are piloting our future in a fog of uncertainty
EU leaders have hinted they could support a longer delay only if Britain were to drop its red lines, particularly its insistence on leaving the EU customs union so as to pursue an independent trade policy.

On currency markets Friday, the pound jumped versus the dollar and steadied against the euro after a week that saw wild fluctuations for the UK unit triggered by the Brexit twists and turns in parliament.
The UK is barrelling towards the March 29 Brexit deadline with no approved EU withdrawal agreement and a prime minister who appears to have lost control over her bickering cabinet.
On Thursday, MPs voted to ask EU leaders to simply push Brexit back in a bid to head off a hugely disruptive end to their partnership.
May struck her agreement with the EU in November after nearly two years of tortuous negotiations.
But the deal has remained deadlocked in the British parliament, chiefly by disagreement over the so-called Irish “backstop” – a measure to keep trade flowing and avoid barriers at the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
Lawmakers voted on Wednesday not to leave without an agreement but still lacked a clear road map on the way forward three years after Brexit was approved in a bitterly divisive referendum in June 2016.
Comedy of errors: meet the cast of Britain’s Brexit tragedy
MPs also rejected a call to hold a second Brexit referendum – a blow to the hopes of a large number of Britons who still dream of keeping their European identity.
The political crisis has weighed heavily on the economy, dragging down growth and forcing businesses to delay investment decisions.
Carolyn Fairbairn, head of the Confederation of British Industry, Britain’s main business lobby, has called on parliament to “stop this circus”.
Following the votes against a no-deal Brexit and for a delay, the CBI tweeted there was “still some common sense in Westminster”.
“But without a radically new approach, business fears this is simply a stay of execution,” it said.


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Brexit

After series of chaotic votes EU leaders urge clarity from Britain before Brexit delay

People walk past a British flag depiction near the entrance of the Eurostar terminal at the Gare du Nord railway station in Paris. Photo: AFP

FILE - In this Thursday, Feb. 7, 2019 file photo European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker prepares to shake hands with British Prime Minister Theresa May before their meeting at the European Commission headquarters in Brussels. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert, File)

A handout photograph released by the UK Parliament on March 14, 2019 shows Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May (C) watching as tellers announce a votes tally in the House of Commons in London on March 14, 2019 during the proceedings in which MPs voted to reject leaving the EU without a deal. - British MPs signalled their opposition Wednesday to leaving the EU with no deal on March 29, in another blow to Prime Minister Theresa May's authority which opens the door to Britain requesting a Brexit delay. (Photo by JESSICA TAYLOR / various sources / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - NO USE FOR ENTERTAINMENT, SATIRICAL, ADVERTISING PURPOSES - MANDATORY CREDIT " AFP PHOTO / JESSICA TAYLOR / UK Parliament"

British parliament votes for Brexit delay, but will the European Union allow it to be postponed?

British Prime Minister Theresa May leaves 10 Downing Street for the House of Commons in London on Thursday. Photo: Xinhua

Britain's opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn speaks in Parliament, following the vote on extending Brexit negotiating period in London, Britain, March 14, 2019, in this screen grab taken from video. Reuters TV via REUTERS

Plane crashes, Brexit chaos, and leadership in a fog of uncertainty

The Chrysler Building in New York is seen through a rain-covered window on March 9. Our political leaders across the world will do whatever they think is right, but it looks as if they are flying in a fog of uncertainty. We, the silent passengers, pray that they know what they are doing. Photo: AFP

A Wall St. street sign is seen near the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., March 7, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

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Officials in Europe must unanimously grant Britain an extension in order for EU divorce to be delayed


Officials in Europe must unanimously grant Britain an extension in order for EU divorce to be delayed.


Britain

European Union

Theresa May

After series of chaotic votes EU leaders urge clarity from Britain before Brexit delay

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Officials in Europe must unanimously grant Britain an extension in order for EU divorce to be delayed

Officials in Europe must unanimously grant Britain an extension in order for EU divorce to be delayed