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By Alexander Smith
LONDON — British Prime Minister Theresa May has written to the European Union to request another extension to give her country more time to work out its ongoing Brexit deadlock.
She asked European Council President Donald Tusk on Friday to delay the divorce deadline until June 30, with the option to terminate the postponement if a deal is worked out before then.
"It is frustrating that we have not yet brought this process to a successful and orderly conclusion," May wrote.
E.U. leaders are due to meet Wednesday and all 27 must unanimously agree for May's request to be approved.
Tusk is in favor of the idea of a "flextension" but he wants a longer delay window of one year, Reuters and The Associated Press cited anonymous senior European officials as saying. NBC News could not immediately independently verify the reports.
No matter the length, any deferral would come as another twist in a crisis that has all but consumed the collective British consciousness.
Brits have spent the past two years gearing up for their European exit — either with eager expectation or fear — only to have it postponed once already, and now possibly again next week.
"This impasse cannot be allowed to continue," May wrote. "In the U.K. it is creating uncertainty and doing damage to faith in politics."
Under the current law, the U.K. is currently due to leave the E.U. next Friday — April 12 — which itself is an extension from the original withdrawal date of March 29.
"Having reluctantly sought an extension to the Article 50 period last month, the government must now do so again," May wrote Friday, referring to the Article 50 clause that sets out the U.K.'s European departure.
An extension of any length would mean the U.K. preparing to take part in European elections that are happening in May. In her letter the prime minister said that if possible she wanted to cut short the extension before that date by reaching an agreement with British lawmakers.
So far this has proved difficult to say the least. May has negotiated a deal with the E.U. but it has been repeatedly rejected by British lawmakers, who have also failed to rally around any other alternative plan.
With her options growing increasingly limited, Conservative prime minister is currently in talks with opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, something that has provoked uproar and suspicion from both parties.
If there is no intervention before next Friday then the country will crash out of the bloc with no deal at all, a Brexit scenario many experts see as risking economy calamity.
Reuters and Associated Press contributed.
https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/brexit-referendum/theresa-may-asks-europe-another-brexit-extension-n991231
2019-04-05 08:31:00Z
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