The EU yesterday agreed to delay Brexit until Jan. 31 — just three days before the UK was due to become the first country ever to leave the 28-nation bloc.
After a very short meeting of diplomats in Brussels, European Council President Donald Tusk said on Twitter that the EU’s 27 other countries would accept “the UK’s request for a Brexit flextension until 31 January, 2020.”
Tusk said the decision was expected to be formalized through a written procedure, meaning a special summit of EU leaders would likely not be necessary to approve the move.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Two diplomats said the term “flextension” means that the UK would be able to leave even earlier than Jan. 31 if the Brexit divorce deal that the EU and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson agreed upon this month is ratified before Jan. 31.
If that ha0ppens, the UK would leave the EU on the first day of the month following the ratification.
Speaking anonymously because details of the decision have yet to be made public, one diplomat added that the Brexit withdrawal agreement cannot be renegotiated during the extension period.
Johnson did not immediately comment on Tusk’s announcement, but under a law passed by British parliamentarians that forced him to request the extension that he did not want, Johnson must notify Tusk that Britain agrees to the proposed delay.
Johnson had previously said he would “rather be dead in a ditch” than agree to extend Brexit beyond Oct. 31.
He has been hammering his “Get Brexit Done” mantra since he replaced Theresa May this summer, and his apparent willingness to consider leaving the bloc without a Brexit deal has spooked many British lawmakers.
Economists say a no-deal Brexit would hurt the economies of both Britain and the EU.
Tusk’s announcement came after the EU diplomats met to sign off on the Brexit new delay.
Leaving the envoys, European Commission Chief Negotiator for Brexit Michel Barnier told reporters: “It was a very short and efficient and constructive meeting and I am happy the decision has been taken.”
It is the second time the Brexit deadline has been changed since British voters in 2016 referendum decided to leave the bloc.
In London later yesterday, British politicians were to vote on whether to hold an early election to try to break the country’s deadlock over Brexit. Johnson wants a Dec. 12 election, but looks unlikely to get the required support from two-thirds of lawmakers.
In a tactical chess move, the Liberal Democrats and the Scottish National Party plan to push for a Dec. 9 election if Johnson’s proposal fails.
The Conservative Party desperately wants a new election to bolster its numbers in parliament, but they face resistance from the main opposition Labour Party, which fears the country would be unwittingly tricked into crashing out of the EU without a deal.
The Dec. 9 proposal is an effort to force Johnson to delay debate in parliament on his Brexit withdrawal bill until after any election, depriving him of a possible victory on his trademark issue.
It makes Johnson’s government choose between holding an election to improve its position in parliament and its goal of securing Brexit before that election takes place.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat