By Nawab Khan
BRUSSELS, March 22 (KUNA) -- The European Union leaders once again failed to break the deadlock on the Brexit crisis after lengthy discussions with UK Prime Minister Theresa May Thursday night.
The European summit ended with conditions and many "IFs" creating more confusion than offering any exit strategy from the crisis.
"If the Withdrawal Agreement is passed by the House of Commons next week. If the Withdrawal Agreement is not approved by the House of Commons next week. If it (UK) has not decided to do so by 12th of April," said European Council President Donald Tusk at a press conference after the meeting.
In its conclusion, the EU summit called for work to be continued on preparedness and contingency at all levels for the consequences of the United Kingdom's withdrawal, taking into account all possible outcomes.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters after the meeting "we are prepared for all scenarios, we want an orderly Brexit but we need to be prepared for other possibilities that are acceptable for people in Europe." Emmanuel Macron, President of France said "I will not speculate on a positive or negative vote (in the UK parliament), I think we need to remain prudent on this matter." Philippe Lamberts, member of the European Parliament's Steering group on Brexit commented "If the third vote is again against the agreement then it's time that prime Minister May finds another strategy." Sebastian Kurz, Federal Chancellor of Austria, said "We cannot exclude the possibility of a hard Brexit. What we achieved and what was the main goal of this meeting is to prevent a hard Brexit next week." EU leaders appear to be preparing for a no-deal Brexit. It is also evident that neither they nor the British leadership have any clue on how to break the deadlock.
May is blaming the British parliament for the impasse, while British MPs are pointing the blame finger at May.
The EU argues that Brexit was created by the UK and they should find a solution to it.
EU politicians are angry and frustrated over the UK referendum to leave the European bloc because Brexit is a blow to the image of the EU, which boasts of being a movement of integration.
The leader of the biggest political group in the European Parliament, the European People's Party, Manfred Weber, bluntly said, "Brits are not the citizens that I care about. They decided to leave the European Union, and they are alone and no longer protected by the EU. It was a mistake to go in this direction." The Portuguese newspaper Publico asked "why should the EU contribute to solving this crisis when it's already clear that the reaction on the other side of the English Channel will only be to blame the EU one way or another." "For the Eurosceptics the EU is made up of idiots and incompetents," it wrote in an opinion piece. (end) nk.ma