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    Courtesy of the Telegraph - maybe Brian will get his own way.


    EU leaders are pinning their hopes on a surge in support for British europhile parties in May’s European elections to convince the government to cancel Brexit. Senior sources in Brussels have revealed that a number of the heads of state and government of the EU-27 said as much in Wednesday’s summit talks over the Brexit extension. Such hopes were dismissed as "starry-eyed dreaming" by David Campbell-Bannerman, the Tory MEP for the East of England and former deputy leader of Ukip. "Having reversed every one of the 48 referendums that went against further EU integration, the EU thinks they can do it again to Britain but they have met their match,” said Mr Campbell-Bannerman, who has been in the European Parliament since 2011 but will not stand in the upcoming elections. “Alongside a third of non British MEPs who will be Eurosceptic after this election, there will be some very angry British Brexiteers winning seats and seeking to gum up the EU's workings,” he said. “Expect fireworks”.

    During a seven hour meeting in Brussels, the EU-27 leaders argued over the risks and opportunities of forcing Britain to run May’s elections. The EU-27 has insisted that if the House of Commons did not ratify the withdrawal agreement before May 22, the UK must hold elections to prevent legal challenges against the new European Parliament. A senior EU official said: “Some of the heads were saying this may be one of the most pro-European demonstrations Europe-wide in the elections.”

    Greece’s Alexis Tsipras is understood to have pushed that view. Other socialist leaders, such as Malta’s Joseph Muscat and Spain’s Pedro Sanchez are believed to have supported him. EU sources suggested their support was more about bolstering socialist seats in the new European Parliament. Left wing leaders expect Labour to make big gains in the European elections, which will strengthen their hand when dividing up EU top jobs. “Everyone understands that, as they say in the UK, a week is a long time in politics, especially in the UK at the moment. Now they have given them 29 weeks,” the senior EU official said. “29 weeks is a very long time in UK politics and things might happen.”
    Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, said he would like Britain to cancel Brexit after the summit. But during the summit talks, he told the leaders it was impossible to predict British politics at the moment.

    France’s Emmanuel Macron, Belgium’s Charles Michel and Austria’s Sebastian Kurz were vocally against a longer extension, while other favoured a delay of a year. In the end, a compromise of six months was reached. “Other leaders were saying that we risk ending up with a lot of people not particularly engaged in the European project and with other agendas,” the senior official said. The French President was keen to secure assurances from Mrs May, which were not forthcoming, that Britain would take the European election seriously for perhaps the first time in its history. “We do not want to import Britain's political crisis into the EU," said an Elysee official. "A long extension without serious guarantees would not allow France to agree to it.The default position is that a dysfunctional EU is worse than no deal.”

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