European Union leaders endorsed a hard-fought Brexit deal with Britain on Thursday, but Prime Minister Boris Johnson faces an uphill battle getting it through the British parliament.
“It looks like we are very close to the final stretch,” EU Council President Donald Tusk told reporters after the other 27 leaders approved the accord.
But despite optimism from Johnson, British opposition parties and some of the prime minister’s own allies in the House of Commons were quick to warn they would not support it when it goes to a vote in a special sitting on Saturday.
If the deal is defeated, the prime minister is obliged under British law to ask EU leaders to postpone Brexit for a third time — breaking his vow to lead Britain out on October 31.
Tusk said that if his happened he would consult member states on how to respond.
Johnson insisted he was “very confident” MPs would back the deal, but the immediate response from opposition parties and even his coalition partners was hostile.
And Juncker sought to focus MPs’ minds, saying that Brussels can see no need for another delay to the painful divorce.
“We have a deal, and this deal means there is no need for any kind of prolongation,” he told reporters — although the decision will be for EU leaders.
Asked whether they had a message for the 48 percent of British voters who backed staying in the EU in the June 2016 Brexit referendum, Juncker simply said: “I would like to say to the 48 that they were right.”
And Tusk said: “I regret that it was 48 and not 52.”
But despite their misgivings, both men argued that the deal would protect the rights of remaining EU citizens and the integrity of the bloc’s single market.
