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The European Union has agreed to grant Britain a new Brexit delay until Jan. 31 next year, EU Council chief Donald Tusk said in a Twitter post on Monday, just three days before the UK was due to exit the bloc.
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"The EU27 has agreed that it will accept the UK's request for a Brexit flextension until 31 January 2020," Tusk said of the idea of a "flexible extension", which means Britain could go earlier if its fractious parliament ratifies the divorce bill.
The bloc now awaits an approval from London. Once that is in, a 24-hour countdown will start when member states can still object or else the decision will have been taken.
"This will allow for the decision to be formally adopted tomorrow," an EU diplomat said.
An EU official warned, however, it might take as long as Wednesday, just a day before Britain would otherwise be due to leave the bloc on its current Oct. 31 deadline.
The decision came following a 30-minute meeting of the 27 EU ambassadors in Brussels after France dropped its objections that blocked the decision last week. Any delay to Brexit can only be granted unanimously by the 27 EU countries staying on together.
"The prospect of elections has strengthened significantly over the weekend," a source close to French President Emmanuel Macron said earlier on Monday.
The third postponement of Brexit would come with conditions. They include a refusal to renegotiate their divorce agreement and giving a green light to the 27 capitals to meet without Britain to discuss the bloc's future.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government on Sunday stepped up pressure on UK lawmakers to back an early election to break the impasse on Brexit three years after Britons voted to leave the EU.
A Downing Street source said the government would consider options including those proposed by opposition parties, after the Scottish National Party (SNP) and Liberal Democrats (LD) said they wanted a new poll on Dec. 9.
The delay envisages that BritaiRead More – Source
