May ends tour without Brexit concessions

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other European Union leaders told British Prime Minister Theresa May on Tuesday that there would be no changes to the draft Brexit deal.

The British prime minister went into a whistle-stop tour of the Netherlands, Germany and Brussels seeking "reassurances" that the deal's "backstop" for keeping an open border in Ireland was temporary.

But Merkel, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, EU Council President Donald Tusk and EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told May in separate meetings that while they were open to semantic clarifications, they would not renegotiate any aspect of the deal.

"The deal we have achieved is the best deal possible, it's the only deal possible," Juncker told the European Parliament ahead of his meeting with May.

"There is no room whatsoever for renegotiation but of course there is room, if used intelligently, to give further clarification and further interpretations."

May's challenge

Speaking in Brussels, May said there was "a shared determination" to tackle British lawmakers' concerns over the Irish backstop and that UK-EU discussions would continue ahead of a meeting of EU leaders on Thursday.

The meetings came a day after May abruptly suspended a parliamentary vote on the draft deal — set for Tuesday — in the face of widespread parliamentary opposition.

Pro-Brexit lawmakers in her own Conservative Party had threatened to vote against the agreement because they feared the backstop would force the UK to accept EU rules after it had left the bloc.

No end in sight

May is set to meet Ireland's prime minister, Leo Varadkar, on Wednesday ahead of a meeting of EU leaders on Thursday and Friday.

But even is she obtains the reassurances from the remaining member states, it is unclear whether they will convince enough lawmakers to back the deal at a vote set to be held before January 21.

Tusk wrote in a tweet after his meeting with May that EU leaders wanted to help May secure a parliamentary majority for the deal ahead of its planned departure on March 29.

"The question is how," he said.

amp/jm (AFP, dpa, AP, Reuters)

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