European Union (EU) leaders Thursday made it clear to British Prime Minister Theresa May that renegotiations on the Brexit agreement is a non-starter.
European leaders were gathering in Brussels, Belgium for a customary two-day summit. High on the agenda were Brexit, multi-annual budget and migration.
The summit came on the heels of May surviving a non-confidence vote among her own Conservative MPs, many of whom bristled at May's move to defer a vote on her Brexit deal in parliament.
The major hurdle against parliamentary approval is the issue of the so-called backstop, or the border on the Island of Ireland, which has been a sticking point in the painful Britain-EU negotiations on how Britain will leave the regional bloc in March next year.
The storm on the other side of the English Channel was under EU's radar. In an apparent move to assuage concerns of the British parliament, the EU leaders underlined "the backstop is intended as an insurance policy to prevent hard border on the island of Ireland and ensure the integrity of the Single Market."
At a press conference after the summit on Friday, European Council President Donald Tusk emphasized that the reopening of the withdrawal agreement is not an option.
"We are ready to reconfirm our assurances and our goodwill and good faith when it comes to the so-called backstop. I have no mandate to organize any further negotiations. We have to exclude any kind of reopening of negotiations on the withdrawal agreement," said Tusk.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 International, Reuters