EU leaders agreed to postpone Brexit day, imposing two new dates — April 12 and May 22 — that will determine the course of the U.K.'s departure
At a news conference shortly before midnight, Tusk said the EU's plan left all options open to the U.K. — including a reversal of Brexit altogether.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, appearing with Tusk at the news conference, noted that EU leaders on Thursday had also formally adopted additional reassurances regarding the backstop provision on Northern Ireland that he had agreed with May in Strasbourg earlier this month. Those reassurances were not enough to stop the U.K. Parliament from rejecting the deal a second time.
EU officials said they had little confidence in May, but hoped that their plan would leave enough room for the U.K. to chart a path forward, including if Parliament seeks to seize control of the process as some officials have said could happen next week. More importantly, they said, the pressure would now be in London to choose a course of action before April 12, rather than having EU leaders back in Brussels next week with the decision on their shoulders.
In fact, although the formal conclusions demand approval of the deal by next week, officials acknowledged that endorsement of it before April 12 would be sufficient to activate the May 22 deadline. The April 12 date was chosen because it reflects the last point at which the U.K., by law, must state if it will participate in the European Parliament election.
According to a senior official, at one point, French President Emmanuel Macron told leaders that he had thought May had a 10 percent chance of getting the deal through, but after listening to her, he had dropped the number to 5 percent. Tusk told Macron he was being generous.Other exchanges were heated, officials said.
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