Prime Minister Theresa May heads back to Brussels yesterday to renew her quest to reopen the terms of Britain’s Brexit divorce, but appears headed for disappointment.
With less than six weeks until Brexit day, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker has agreed to meet May once again, but EU leaders insist they will not restart negotiations. “I have great respect for Theresa May, for her courage and her assertiveness. We will have a friendly talk tomorrow but I don’t expect a breakthrough,” Juncker said Tuesday.
Just hours before the meeting, Britain’s Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt warned that progress on the thorny problem of the Irish border is the “only way” to avoid Britain crashing out without a deal on March 29.
And May suffered a fresh blow to her authority at home when three of her MPs resigned from her Conservative party in protest at her Brexit strategy to join a new independent group of lawmakers. May and the other 27 EU leaders approved a Brexit withdrawal agreement at a summit on November 25 last year, but the British leader’s own parliament rejected it overwhelmingly on January 15.