WARSAW: European Council President Donald Tusk said he sees the chances of Britain staying in the European Union after all at 20-30 per cent as Britons had begun a genuine debate whether to leave or to remain only after their 2016 Brexit referendum.
In a Polish newspaper interview, Tusk suggested holding another Brexit referendum given the precedent that Britain had already staged two plebiscites on Europe, the first in 1975 on whether to stay in the then-European Economic Community that it had joined two years before.
If in 2016 it was possible to change the decision made in 1975, it should be possible to hold a second Brexit referendum, said Tusk, who has often voiced sadness at the outcome of the vote, in which 52 per cent voted to leave against 48 per cent to remain.
“The real debate on the consequences of Brexit started not before or during the referendum campaign, but after the vote. Today the results would probably look different,” he said in remarks published on the Gazeta Wyborcza daily website.
“Paradoxically it is Brexit that triggered a pro-European movement in the UK,” Tusk said. “Today, chances that there will be no Brexit are at 20-30 per cent. That’s a lot.”
He was touching on growing uncertainty over how, when or indeed even if Britain quits the EU.
Prime Minister Theresa May has thrice failed to get her EU withdrawal agreement ratified by the British parliament so the EU allowed a Brexit delay until the end of October, giving her more time to try to win over lawmakers.
But prospects for overcoming the deadlock soon appear dim with both her Conservative and main opposition Labour parties split into multiple shades of pro-Leave and pro-Remain factions. — Reuters
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