United Kingdom and Gibraltar European Union membership referendum
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Following the postponement of the vote on the new Brexit deal in the House of Commons, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has requested another Brexit reprieve from the EU. However, he refused to sign the motion, as reported late Saturday in government circles in London. Instead, he sent a second - signed - letter to the EU in which he stressed that he rejects another Brexit reprieve.
EU Council President Donald Tusk said in the evening that he had received the request for a time extension from London. He will now discuss with the EU leaders how to respond, Tusk wrote on Twitter. EU circles said that this process could take "a few days". There was no comment on the missing signature on the application.
The extension request has just arrived. I want now start consulting EU leaders on how to react. #Brexit
- Donald Tusk (@eucopresident) 19 October 2019Previously, Tusk had phoned Johnson. "Waiting for the letter," the EU Council President tweet in anticipation of the letter. A British government spokeswoman said Johnson spoke with Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and French President Emmanuel Macron in addition to Tusk.
Macron has told Johnson that Paris needs a quick clarification of the situation, reports the Reuters news agency, citing an official in the French presidential office. "He signaled that there would be no delay in anyone's interest."
The Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte spoke by his own account on Saturday with Johnson. "We discussed the situation around Brexit," it says in a statement. "I have wished him success in the next steps in the British Parliament."
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The London government said Johnson had attached a copy of the bill to the unsigned request to extend the deadline, forcing him to ask the EU for another Brexit postponement. Johnson has also sent a second letter to the EU stressing that he rejects another Brexit reprieve. He also signed this letter, it said from Downing Street.
This letter circulated on Saturday night in various British media. "Regrettably, Parliament has missed the opportunity to give momentum to the ratification process," reads the letter signed by Johnson.
Johnson already stressed immediately after the vote in the House of Commons on Saturday that he would "not negotiate an extension of the deadline with Brussels and his country would continue to lead on 31 October from the EU. The withdrawal date had already been postponed twice.
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He would tell EU leaders that "further delays would be bad for this country, bad for the European Union and bad for democracy," Johnson announced.
From the ranks of the opposition, the head of government was criticized. "Johnson is a prime minister who is now treating Parliament and the courts with contempt," says Labor Party spokesman John McDonnell . The "childish refusal" to sign the letter shows the arrogance of a person who believes that he is above the law.
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