15 December 2018 12:01 am
British Prime Minister Theresa May travelled Thursday to Brussels to beg fellow EU leaders for concessions in her effort to seal a divorce deal splitting her nation from the European Union, but she won little to sway opinions among her rebellious supporters.
In a series of one-on-one meetings and a nearly hourlong grilling by her fellow EU leaders, May underlined the direness of her predicament; an exit deal that could leave Britain stuck partway out the door of the European Union has proved too politically toxic to pass muster at home. But some fellow leaders blasted May for what they said was the muddiness of her proposals, and it seemed possible the exchange could actually inflame the British discussion rather than calm it.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, said the British demands were “nebulous and imprecise.” In a declaration after their meeting, the 27 leaders said the deal “was not open for renegotiation,” and they directed all levels of their governments to prepare for “all possible outcomes” - including a chaotic British departure that could set off a European economic crisis.
“There’s an impression perhaps in the U.K. that it’s for the EU to propose solutions,” Juncker said. “It is the U.K. that is leaving the E.U., and I would have thought it was up to the British government to tell us what they want.”
By Michael Birnbaum, Quentin Ariès (c) 2018, The Washington Post Dec 14, 2018