European leaders are reportedly unimpressed by the prospect of another extension to the Brexit deadline after British Prime Minister Theresa May’s call to push the date as far back as June 30.
“We, as the European Union, have set very clear deadlines and there is no reason to further extend those deadlines,”Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz told the Straubinger Tagblatt newspaper.
“Unless the facts in Britain change. But we have not yet reached this point.” Meanwhile Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, said the request raises many questions.
May wrote to European Council President Donald Tusk on Friday asking that Brexit be delayed until the end of June so UK lawmakers could agree on a withdrawal deal.
The request sparked a swirl of unofficial reports, with a senior EU official briefing news agencies that Tusk was considering offering Britain a flexible extension of up to one year while the finer details of the country’s exit from the union were finalised.
This prompted a pointed remark from a diplomatic source close to French President Emmanuel Macron, who decried the rumors of Brussels granting Britain another extension to the deadline for leaving the union as “clumsy” and “premature.”
“[There is a] need for a credible alternative plan justifying this request. We’re not there today,” the source told Reuters. “In any case, we need a clear plan from London by Tuesday.”
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